Pain from hoods on long distance rides

CrazyJazy

Hi guys,

I've found on long distance rides that my hand between my thumb and index finger gets very sore and even blistered from riding on the hoods of my handle bars. (Shimano 2300s).

I use gloves which helps normally but I did the 54 mile London to Brighton yesterday and even through the gloves my hands had become very sore...

Advice from the experts please? :-P

Jess (Girl)

ollyridesfirst

Gel gloves?
Gel bar tape?
Have you had your set-up checked? If you're over-reaching slightly, you could be putting too much pressure on your hands.

Also try to move your hands around as much as possible....this helps bloody flow to the extremities. I do however get the same problem especially in my left hand to the point that sometimes i am unable to grib the bars properly. I will then tend to move my thumb from the side of the hood to rest it on the brake cable.....it does help slightly until the pain has subsided...

MichaelW

1. Check your overall position from pedals->saddle->bars.
2. Check your brake lever placement on the bars. You can raise/lower/rotate the levers. I prefer mine with a little inboard rotation.
3. Check the profile of the grips. You can alter them by stuffing small strips of inner tube under the rubber hood.

Grip-ology is a bit of a black art but one that our stone-age ancestors mastered. Check out any decent tool and you will see that the contact area of the hand includes the palm. Without this palm bulge, you contact the edge of you hand or the web. You probably need to raise a palm bulge. I did this with my Campagnolo grips and it worked for me.

jomoj

can you post a pic of your bars and levers from the side?
It is a bit of a dark art + trial and error but MichaelW is spot on about the palm bulge factor. I put strips of bar tape under mine (shimano 105 5600) to shape the hoods a bit better.

You could try placing the levers so that the hood blends into the flat section at the top of the bar before it curves into the drop but it can be tricky depending on the bend of your bars and the shape and angle of the levers.