Hand pain on MTB

[Craikeybaby]

Over the last few months I've been getting a pain across the palm of my hands when I'm out on my bike, I think it may be something to do with the set up of my bike as I didn't notice it when I was on a hire bike at Coed y Brenin a few weeks ago. It happens riding both on and off road.

So far I've tried:
- Flipping the stem to raise the bars
- Rotating the bars forward slightly
- Moving the brake levers in so I only pull them with two fingers
- Moving the seat back/forwards
- Using thicker gloves

So far none of the above seem to have made any difference. I think I'm at the point now where I've adjusted the bike as much as I can and to tweak my riding position further I'll need to spend some money, so before I do, I thought I'd call on the collective PH knowledge to see if there are any suggestions.

[Stiggolas]

I had this last year on the road bike and mountain bike. The only common factor was the gloves. They were padded Specialized BG gloves and were not cheap. I bought some cheapies from PlanetX as part of a package (they do some very good deals on packages) and thought I'd try them one day. The pain has gone completely!
I didn't realize until 50 odd miles that I was so much more comfortable. I tried the Specialized ones again and the pain came back (but not quite as bad).
I have since tried riding with no gloves and even that is better than the originals.

[joema]

I have no idea what both bikes were from your post. What were the differences between the hire bike and yours? suspension, handle bars?

There are a lot of things that affect your comfort on a bike. This largely relates to your riding position and what bears weight i.e. you could be over the front on your bike so adjusting saddle position, bringing bars more towards you to put more weight back could help. You also need to think about suspension set up (if sprung). Also look at handlebars as they have different sweeps with different rises which affect. Also think how comfortable your controls are to use, are you stretching to use your brakes?

It could be simply down to grips. Grips come in all sorts of softness and thickness. It may be that a fatter grip may help.

Gloves shouldn't be the difference as it sounds more fundamental

[richardxjr]

What brakes? Most modern hydros are single finger.

Also, are the brake levers at the correct angle? When sat on the bike the brake finger should look like an extension of your forearm, continuing down to the brake lever at the same angle.

Incorrect angle can lead to pain or a wrist up attitude which you really don't want riding an mtb.

[Craikeybaby]

joema said:

I have no idea what both bikes were from your post. What were the differences between the hire bike and yours? suspension, handle bars?

There are a lot of things that affect your comfort on a bike. This largely relates to your riding position and what bears weight i.e. you could be over the front on your bike so adjusting saddle position, bringing bars more towards you to put more weight back could help. You also need to think about suspension set up (if sprung). Also look at handlebars as they have different sweeps with different rises which affect. Also think how comfortable your controls are to use, are you stretching to use your brakes?

It could be simply down to grips. Grips come in all sorts of softness and thickness. It may be that a fatter grip may help.

Gloves shouldn't be the difference as it sounds more fundamental

My bike is a Vitus nuclues 27.5" hardtail, the hire bike was a Trek 29" hardtail. I didn't really notice the difference in handlebar sweep etc.

I'll try rotating the bars back towards me a bit and see how I get on with that and maybe softening up the suspension, as I noticed yesterday I wasn't getting much sag now that I've lost some weight.

Thicker grips were going to be my first purchase, as the ones that came with the bike are getting worn now anyway.

[Craikeybaby]

richardxjr said:

What brakes? Most modern hydros are single finger.

Also, are the brake levers at the correct angle? When sat on the bike the brake finger should look like an extension of your forearm, continuing down to the brake lever at the same angle.

Incorrect angle can lead to pain or a wrist up attitude which you really don't want riding an mtb.

They're Tekro hyraulic brakes, when I got the bike they were set up for 3 finger operation, I've since moved them inboard for 2 finger operation, but any more and the shifters will be well out of reach. I'll check the angles before I go out this afternoon and report back.

[markoc]

Ergon grips... I swear by them now - much bigger palm surface and I have the ones with mini-bar end type bits that I find are helpful climbing and when out of the saddle

[richardxjr]

GP2s, use them myself, however need to sort out position before fine tuning with grips & gloves.

I use various grips, gloves or no gloves, different bikes inc rigid, for long rides, don't get any such pain because I know the position is correct.

[neenaw]

I'm with the last two posters, Ergon grips are the way forward if you suffer with hand pain on the bike.

[Esders]

I swear by ESI Chunky Silicone grips. Having said that, I suspect that a change of grips or different gloves may just be masking the problem. I suspect that it is bike set up with your weight too far forward, the frame being too long and having to stretch too far, the bars being too wide or something. On the other hand I know nothing and may be completely wrong. I am sure your LBS will be able to sort the problem out for you though.

[anonymous-user]

I've had this before, and it can be caused either by a poor fork (in general) or poor fork set up. If your rebound is too fast on the fork, it shakes the hell out of your hands and arms.

What was the hired bike's fork like compared to your own fork? In terms of model, brand etc.?

Edited by RenOHH on Friday 17th July 17:27

[Agent XXX]

I'd be inclined to agree with the angle of the brake levers.

First thing my, very experienced, mate did to my first MTB last year was angle them downwards for me and he said, and I quote, "You'll thank me for that" and have never had an issue

[aka_kerrly]

I sometimes suffer from sore fingers an wrists when hitting longer downhill sections with multiple jumps/obstacles. Having spoken to a few semi prose & guys in bike shops I kept hearing I was holding on too tight, had too much weight over the front or had the wrong size grips.

I hadn't ever given much consideration to the size of the grips. Having swapped to smaller diameter grips and relaxing a bit more things have improved massively :-)

[Mr Ted]

Craikeybaby said:

Over the last few months I've been getting a pain across the palm of my hands when I'm out on my bike, I think it may be something to do with the set up of my bike as I didn't notice it when I was on a hire bike at Coed y Brenin a few weeks ago. It happens riding both on and off road.

So far I've tried:
- Flipping the stem to raise the bars
- Rotating the bars forward slightly
- Moving the brake levers in so I only pull them with two fingers
- Moving the seat back/forwards
- Using thicker gloves

So far none of the above seem to have made any difference. I think I'm at the point now where I've adjusted the bike as much as I can and to tweak my riding position further I'll need to spend some money, so before I do, I thought I'd call on the collective PH knowledge to see if there are any suggestions.

Have a look at James Wilson's site in his blogs, there is a mine of useful info about what causes this type of thing! http://www.bikejames.com/

[richardxjr]

Agree with the death grip syndrome too. Ride loose.

[JD PH]

Esders said:

I swear by ESI Chunky Silicone grips

+1

I've been mountain biking for years and have always struggled with hand pain, especially when riding "proper" trails... By which I mean alps etc.

Anyway, I switched to ESI grips and - despite looking like they came out of a cracker - I can't imagine using anything else now and have them on all of my bikes now.

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks for all the help guys.

Following on from the suggestions yesterday I rotated by bars back and lowered my brake levers. It didn't feel right, so moved the levers up slightly and it helped a lot! Maybe there's a bit more refining to do, but I'm now on the right track.

I'll check out the grips mentioned in the thread, as I need to replace mine anyway.

[Craikeybaby]

Esders said:

I swear by ESI Chunky Silicone grips. Having said that, I suspect that a change of grips or different gloves may just be masking the problem. I suspect that it is bike set up with your weight too far forward, the frame being too long and having to stretch too far, the bars being too wide or something. On the other hand I know nothing and may be completely wrong. I am sure your LBS will be able to sort the problem out for you though.

It could well be something like that, the frame does feel a bit big to me, but then I have short legs but normal body, which may not help.

[Craikeybaby]

RenOHH said:

I've had this before, and it can be caused either by a poor fork (in general) or poor fork set up. If your rebound is too fast on the fork, it shakes the hell out of your hands and arms.

What was the hired bike's fork like compared to your own fork? In terms of model, brand etc.?

Edited by RenOHH on Friday 17th July 17:27

I've got a Suntour air fork, I think the hire bike had a Rockshox coil fork, in the past I've tried both ends of the rebound adjustment and didn't feel any difference, so set it in the middle. Will turn it down a bit and see if that helps. It probably isn't the greatest of shocks though.

[drivin_me_nuts]

Are your gloves too tight around your wrist? Especially if they have elastic cuffs or velcro.