Carbon Bars?

John Park said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum bars.
When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are carbon
bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

John P.

Somewhat. But why not try the cheapest solution first? Bar Phat pads
(not just fat tape) will help quite a bit, but will make your bars
slightly fatter. They are relatively cheap though. I have had good
luck with them. My experience with carbon bars is that they do lessen
road shock noticably, but are expensive and flex too much for my
liking when I stand to sprint. I prefer my Deda Newtons with Bar Phat.
Some carbon bars will be a lot less flexible, but as a result probably
soak up less road shock.

John Park said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum bars.
When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are carbon
bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

The first thing to suspect when you have hand discomfort is the fit.
You probably are carrying too much weight on your hands. I suspect
your bars are too low or too far forward. Another possibility is
that your saddle is tilted downwards, forcing you to use your hands
to push backwards to stay on the saddle.

No, carbon bars won't solve the problem.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:32:25 -0700, Terry Morse <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

John Park said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum bars.
When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are carbon
bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

The first thing to suspect when you have hand discomfort is the fit.
You probably are carrying too much weight on your hands. I suspect
your bars are too low or too far forward. Another possibility is
that your saddle is tilted downwards, forcing you to use your hands
to push backwards to stay on the saddle.

No, carbon bars won't solve the problem.

Whoops, I missed that possibility entirely. Thanks for pointing that
out. You are absolutely correct.

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

Quoted message said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum bars.
When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are carbon
bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

padded gloves are the answer. My favorites were the old spenco mesh
gloves.
------------
Alex

Quoted message said:

"John Park" [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum bars.
When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are carbon
bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

My carbon bars do lessen the road buzz I feel but pressure? No. That's a
function of your position on the bike. If the pain you feel is in your wrists
and lower forearms, you probably are supporting too much of your weight on your
hands. OTOH (no pun intended) if the pain is actually *in* your *hands* you
might consider switching gloves. If you don't want to invest a lot of time and
money trying different gloves you can still eliminate the possibility that your
gloves are causing the pain. Simply ride without gloves for a few days. If the
pain lessens or disappears, bingo. Mystery solved.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

"Terry Morse" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John Park said:

I ride a steel Lemond with carbon forks and what I guess are aluminum

bars.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When in the drops, the pressure and vibration hurts the hands. Are

carbon

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bars the solution? Phat tape from Specialized? Comments?

The first thing to suspect when you have hand discomfort is the fit.
You probably are carrying too much weight on your hands. I suspect
your bars are too low or too far forward. Another possibility is
that your saddle is tilted downwards, forcing you to use your hands
to push backwards to stay on the saddle.

No, carbon bars won't solve the problem.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

I stopped by my LBS this PM and front bars went down about 3/4" - - - seat
went up about 1-1/2" - - - seat went back about 1/2". He said I may wish
to spend most of the time on the hoods, and use the drops only when the need
arises. The fact that I changed the way that I ride and that I wend
clipless accounted for most of the changes I think.

Thanks for all the advise to all who replied. Seems that throwing money at
a problem is not always the best way to go.

John P.