Is it really down to poor core strength and weak forearms? Or can i blame it on bike setup?

You can also blame it on the wrong components too 🙂

Or can i blame it on bike setup?

If you’re riding fully rigid or your bike is badly set up then yes.

Are you seeing nearly full travel on your forks? I’ve seen lots of folks run theirs with far too much pressure. The bodyweight/pressure charts supplied by fork manufacturers are often miles out.
Have you got so much rebound damping on that the forks don’t have time to spring back between bumps?

Are you holding on too tight? Death grip = soreness

+1 for holding on too tight. I used to do this and had similar fatigue in the hands and forearms but as soon as I started to loosen my grip it went away and I actually found I had better control over the bike. Also I found leaning back more on the rocky descents helps tremendously. Its amazing how you naturally tend to lean way too far forward putting more weight through your arms.

Probably the wrong tyres.

Probably the wrong tyres size wheels

🙂

In the spirit of blaming components, have you looked at your handlebar setup?

I find that I prefer a handlebar with slightly more back sweep (or rotated inwards a bit). I was having wrist pain after long days at Whistler using a Answer ProTaper bar. Overnight I swapped to Nukeproof handlebars and it was so much better. My mate who was recovering from a broken scaphoid was having some pain, so he rotated his bars towards the saddle just a bit and it massively improved the situation.

Perhaps also consider your grips. I find the Odi Ruffians too narrow, the Rogues too wide, but the Odi TLDs just right (I sound a bit like Goldilocks!).

Are you dragging the brakes? I find that if I’m nervous I’ll drag the brakes, which in turn leaves me with sore hands/arms. Stay loose, brake: straight lines, pick your lines/braking points.

I had a couple of days riding with a medium spring pair of domains and was getting a really weird spikey pain in my hands (very different to death grip induced pump), switched to a soft spring & it didn’t happen again.

True story.

A lot of people suffering from arm pump are breaking far too much.

How old are you? The pain may have arthritic origins, I’m afraid. However, the above references to positioning on the bike are still relevant.

Have you considered a skills course and Pilates?

Either: 1. Work on those forearms in the gym with some weighted string roll-ups.
2. Run your fork with more rebound damping and less compression damping.

Rags

2. Run your fork with more rebound damping and less compression damping.

Nice assumption there.

I would have a look at brake setup though. You see lots of people making their lives much moar difficult by never getting their levers into a decent position

+1 for lever positioning… obviously it could be a number of things, but when i built my latest bike up, the first few rides were giving me wrist problems. Decided my brake levers were angled too far down. Are your brakes quite far down, or is the reach adjusted out quite a lot? Amongst other things, you could try moving the brake levers up a little, or bring the reach in a bit, even if it is just to eliminate them from the equation!

Low bars? Causing you to ride with to much weight on your hands?

That was my issue anyway

monkey boy has it, tilting your bars back a bit, will make a massive difference, also try moving the saddle forwards or adding a spacer under the stem.

Levers are fine, jedi sorted that. Bar position may be out a bit, is there a tried and tested method to get them right? bar height is 15mm lower due to loan forks

There should be no pressure point between your forefinger and thumb,your hand/grip should be spreading all your body weight evenly through the most comfortable handle bar position possible.

correct tyre and front fork pressure is important too, in colder weather its worth moving brake levers position closer to the grip (improves blood circulation) and try to avoid gripping the bars too tightly.

Bar position may be out a bit, is there a tried and tested method to get them right?

In terms of rotating them towards the saddle, it really is only a subtle shift that is required, easily something you would quickly try for a section of trail during a ride and then get instant feedback. The difference in sweep between the Answer and Nukeproof bars was only 1 deg but made a massive difference.

Something I have found is that I like my bars rotated further back than some of my mates and it generally seems to correlate with people who ride over the front v. me who rides more over the back. Again it’s only a subtle difference.

When you say lever height is fine, how are you checking?

Must admit I’m really impressed by the ESI chunky grips I put on for yesterdays ride, trail buzz was much reduced compared to the Renthals I had been using.

Levers are fine, jedi sorted that. Bar position may be out a bit, is there a tried and tested method to get them right? bar height is 15mm lower due to loan forks

Trying out different bar heights on rides. Try a 1 inch rise to begin with, that way you will really be able to feel the difference.

“,your hand/grip should be spreading all your body weight evenly “

Why have any body weight on your hands? Stand all your body weight on your pedals, steer and push with the feet. Just use your hands and arms to stop the bar twitching about. No arm fatigue here even after 30 plus minute alpine descents, and the bike usually goes where it’s put 🙂

One of the guys we ride with has a 29er, and my pal had a ride on it down a fast rocky descent. At the bottom he said that the fork was far too stiff. In fact it was only moving 1/2 way down.

The owner agreed, but said he liked it like that.

I had a go on another descent, I could barely hold on – along with the forks it also had an alloy bar and hard grips.

The chap then let some air out if the fork.

Next descent he had a smile at the bottom 🙂

Fanny around with the bike. There’s been a load of explanations up the page, one of them might well be right but who knows which one? So when in doubt, fanny around with it. Adjust the levers, try new grips, move the bars up or down, twiddle some dials. At the very least you’re likely to get psychological benefits.

+1 for bar height, swapping from 15mm to 48mm rise made a world of difference. Also fork setup…