Hand Pain On New Bike

Mark Elvin

So I've set the new bike up, saddle height OK, reach OK, feels comfortable on the Turbo, but after about 10 miles on the road I get achy hands. Not numbness, just aches whilst I'm on the hoods.

I have a 20mm shorter stem in the garage I'm going try to see if this helps (less weight on the hands)?

Any other suggestions as to adjustments to try to help aleviate the pain.

Erudin

Just changed the bars on my winter bike from shallow drops to a FSA Vero Compact Road Bar (125mm drop, 80mm reach). My first attempt at setting them up did not work well, great on the drops, but my wrists were at the wrong angle on the hoods, and ached after a 10 mile ride.

Found the best way to set them up was putting the bike on the turbo trainer as the brake cables on the Cane Creek SCR-5C levers have to be loosened off to get to the bar clamp. First I set the bar angle so it was comfortable in the drops, top of the bar and the top bends. Then moved on to the brakes, found I could get them much higher on the drops so my wrists were comfortable on the hoods and could still reach the levers on the drops comfortably.

So my advice is adjust the brake levers on the drops until you have got the set-up dialled in, make small adjustments and test them out turbo then road, wrists should be at a natural angle whether on the hoods or drops. If you can't get comfortable try a different design of bar, I could not get on with anatomic bars, but am fine with standard curve or compact.



Found the FSA Compact bar review useful as well.

Pross

Are the bars lower than you are used to? If so you will probably be putting more weight on them than normal hence the hand pain (it also tends to make your neck and shoulders ache more)

Mark Elvin

I'm an ex MTBer so the bars are lower than I'm used to, perhaps it's just a case of getting used to this.

crankycrank

Agree with Erudin. Try moving the brakes levers around to see if that helps. Rotating them inwards or outwards and higher or lower on the bars can help quite a bit towards having less stress or pressure on your hands. Try extending your arms out in a position that you feel would be comfortable on the bike and notice the position of your hands. For many people their palms will not be perfectly perpendicular to the floor and trying to set up brifters without a slight inward rotation strains the hands and wrists. It could also be many other things including, as you suspect, stem length but also consider handlebar height, uncomfortable bar shape or width or it could just be you need to build up strength for your new hand position transitioning from flat bars. Be patient, it sometimes takes months of trial and error (and hopefully no new parts will have to be purchased) to find the best setup

Mark Elvin

crankycrank wrote:

Agree with Erudin. Try moving the brakes levers around to see if that helps. Rotating them inwards or outwards ......

You may have something there.

Sitting on the bike & adopting the "on the hoods" position my hands naturally want to turm in slightly, not parallel to each other. So I loosened the brake levers & turned in until they matched the angle my hands naturally fell in. Fels more confoty over a dhort distance, hopefully will get out tommorrow night for a little longer.

Thanks

MrBibble

Mark Elvin wrote:

I'm an ex MTBer so the bars are lower than I'm used to, perhaps it's just a case of getting used to this.

I had the same problem but wasnt intelligent enough to consider any adjustments so bought some new gloves and got used to it :roll:

Mark Elvin

Well, during the 20mile ride last night I had only minimal pain in the hands. I'm going to pop some 175mm cranks on (currently on 165mm) & lower the saddle by 10mm, think I'll be aoput right then hopefully.

crankycrank

Good to hear. Hope you get it completely sorted to the point of zero hand pain. 8)