Hands get sore

On 27 Apr 2004 14:56:49 -0700, [email hidden] (Chris
Hansen) wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or is
there something else to look at?

Yes, it's called a recumbent, where neither your hands nor your rear
get sore ;-)

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Chris Hansen wrote:
:: Hello,
::
:: When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
:: I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or
:: is there something else to look at?
::
:: Thanks.

gloves..& ...move your hands frequently.

Yes, gloves help. Also, you don't specify what kind of handlebars you have. One
of the reasons I switched back to a bike with dropped handlebars was that
dropped bars provide more hand positions

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or is
there something else to look at?

Raising the bar is usually the first thing to try, but moving the saddle
forward is also an option. You could also be sure you are moving your
hands around to different positions. If you have bars which don't offer
multiple positions, you could try drop bars in order to get some
options.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

Chris Hansen said:

Hello,

When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or is
there something else to look at?

Thanks.

Make sure the saddle is not tilted forwards, but is closer to level.

Jacobe Hazzard said:

Make sure the saddle is not tilted forwards, but is closer to level.

And if it's your hands, rather than your wrists that are sore, try not to
grip the bars too tightly.

"Chris Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or is
there something else to look at?

Thanks.

You've probably already done this, but I rode for 3k miles with various
aches and pains (hands included) until I finally coughed up the money for a
professional fit. I ended up moving EVERYTHING, and none of it very far,
but what a difference it made to my butt, hands, legs, knees, you name it.

If you aren't wearing gloves, do so - lots of different kinds available. In
summer I use Altura progel mitts and love them. In cooler times I use Pearl
Izumi AmFib Glove and love them - warm, dry and lots of movement allowed.

Cheers, helen s

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in addition the different length (likely shorter?) stem may help too. In my
case a 10 mm shorter stem and sliding the seat a bit forward (10 mm) helped.

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

When I'm riding my hands get sore before my rear. I assume this means
I have too much weight on my hands. Should I raise the handlebar or is
there something else to look at?

Raising the bar is usually the first thing to try, but moving the saddle
forward is also an option. You could also be sure you are moving your
hands around to different positions. If you have bars which don't offer
multiple positions, you could try drop bars in order to get some
options.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

in addition the different length (likely shorter?) stem may help too. In my
case a 10 mm shorter stem and sliding the seat a bit forward (10 mm) helped.

Yeah, I forgot that one, but it's a common fix.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Sorry, I should have given more information.

I ride a road bike (an old Shcwinn LeTour that I inherited from a
family member) with drop handlebars. I also wear gloves. The
handlebars are about 1 inch lower than the saddle which seems
comfortable. I also put on wider handlebars and a little longer stem
because it felt short and narrow, it seems much easier to breath
deeply now. I read that if you lift your hands off the handlebars you
should be able to hold that position with little effort but when I try
I tend to slide forward on the seat. I tried moving the seat forward
but then I find I'm always scooting back, especially up hills.

Is there anything else that might be significant?

Thanks for all the input.

Chris Hansen said:

Sorry, I should have given more information.

I ride a road bike (an old Shcwinn LeTour that I inherited from a
family member) with drop handlebars. I also wear gloves. The
handlebars are about 1 inch lower than the saddle which seems
comfortable. I also put on wider handlebars and a little longer stem
because it felt short and narrow, it seems much easier to breath
deeply now. I read that if you lift your hands off the handlebars you
should be able to hold that position with little effort but when I try
I tend to slide forward on the seat. I tried moving the seat forward
but then I find I'm always scooting back, especially up hills.

Is there anything else that might be significant?

Thanks for all the input.

#1 thing that comes to mind is to level the seat. Dead level may not be
perfect, but it's the logical place to start. What you describe is how
I felt when my seat was tilted forward instead of very close to dead level.
Start level and adjust for personal preferences in very small increments.
Best regards, Bernie

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Sorry, I should have given more information.

I ride a road bike (an old Shcwinn LeTour that I inherited from a
family member) with drop handlebars. I also wear gloves. The
handlebars are about 1 inch lower than the saddle which seems
comfortable. I also put on wider handlebars and a little longer stem
because it felt short and narrow, it seems much easier to breath
deeply now. I read that if you lift your hands off the handlebars you
should be able to hold that position with little effort but when I try
I tend to slide forward on the seat. I tried moving the seat forward
but then I find I'm always scooting back, especially up hills.

Is there anything else that might be significant?

YOu still might look at putting the shorter stem back on, and/or raising
the bars an inch (to be level with the saddle).

Quoted message said:

Thanks for all the input.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Is your stem currently angled up or down?

Personal experience, and I do assume your bike frame is the right size for
you.....

My stem was initially angled 5 degrees down so I flipped it and it is now
facing 5 degrees upward i.e. 10 degree angle difference. Together with 10 mm
shorter stem and adjusting the seat (slide it forward by about 10 mm) it
seemed to do the trick for me.

You may also twist the handle bar a little bit upwards so that your brake
hoods are a touch higher - just don't go to extremes i.e. the drops line
should be horizontal to road surface or pointed a little bit down toward the
derailer.

Of course you may need to do the reverse i.e. longer stem, slide the seat
backward etc. If you have competent LBS it may be worth seeking their
opinion.

YMMV
cheers

"Chris Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sorry, I should have given more information.

I ride a road bike (an old Shcwinn LeTour that I inherited from a
family member) with drop handlebars. I also wear gloves. The
handlebars are about 1 inch lower than the saddle which seems
comfortable. I also put on wider handlebars and a little longer stem
because it felt short and narrow, it seems much easier to breath
deeply now. I read that if you lift your hands off the handlebars you
should be able to hold that position with little effort but when I try
I tend to slide forward on the seat. I tried moving the seat forward
but then I find I'm always scooting back, especially up hills.

Is there anything else that might be significant?

Thanks for all the input.

Quoted message said:

#1 thing that comes to mind is to level the seat.

I checked the seat and it's tilted up as far as it will go which
brings it to about level. When I ride no handed and sit upright I
still feel like I slide forward a little. I wonder if a different seat
will help?

On 1 May 2004 11:50:05 -0700, [email hidden] (Chris

Hansen) said:

Quoted message said:

#1 thing that comes to mind is to level the seat.

I checked the seat and it's tilted up as far as it will go which
brings it to about level. When I ride no handed and sit upright I
still feel like I slide forward a little. I wonder if a different seat
will help?

Is your seatpost backwards?
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

On 1 May 2004 11:50:05 -0700, [email hidden] (Chris

Hansen) said:

Quoted message said:

#1 thing that comes to mind is to level the seat.

I checked the seat and it's tilted up as far as it will go which
brings it to about level. When I ride no handed and sit upright I
still feel like I slide forward a little. I wonder if a different seat
will help?

Is your seatpost backwards?

Sounds like he has a right seatpost in a left-posted bike... ;-)

-B

On Sat, 01 May 2004 17:53:56 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Rick Onanian said:

Is your seatpost backwards?

Sounds like he has a right seatpost in a left-posted bike... ;-)

Actually, I meant it seriously. I have a seatpost that has the clamp
off-center of the post body (like most); if you mount it with the
clamp forward, it can't get quite level.
--
Rick Onanian