handle bar head ache, well hand and arm ache :)

blueneedles

Greetings, Ive recently decided that im giving road rideing a go again but sticking with it this time! Now to cut a long story short im building my own bike to fit around me by makeing a modern bike out of a vintage raleigh frame.

Im on a very tight budget so im rideing a borrowed bike from my farther in law to get used to the rideing position etc.

The biggest thing that is the main issue for me is the bars!!! Ive changed the pitch and height on the loan bike which has made things alittle better but im still finding my hands ache aswell as my shoulders after nearly every ride. I have given this issue time before i posted as i thought it may pass with abit of saddle time.

After 20 miles "biggest effort so far" and my daily run of 7 miles for mork over the last 2 months my hands and shoulders still ache.
Ive been looking at bars for nearly a week now within my budget range but dont want to make any plunge if there's a alturnative that will make things more comfortable for me that ive missed.

bars at the mo are 460 wide on a 80mm stem not sure on the drop etc.

bike im building is a 23ins frame and im 6ft tall if that helps. also will be fitting STI levers.

any help is deeply apreciated

JayKosta

I like to have the top of the bar (the center section and the part of the curve to the brake hoods) fairly level. With my bars that results in the ends of the bars sort of 'pointing' downwards toward the rear wheel axle. I position the brake hoods so my hands are on a comfortable section of the bars when my hands are pressed against the hoods. Also try tilting the hoods inward so your wrists are at a comfortable angle.
Either wrap the bars with thick padded bar tape, or wear padded cycling gloves - or both.
While riding change the position of your hands frequently - and keep your thumbs in a comfortable position so they are not forced to bend at an ackward angle.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

Camcycle1974

Ditto. Move your saddle back to place less weight on the hands/arms. Worked for me when I was getting numbness in the hands. A 460 wide bar is wider than standard, 420 would be more regular. If the numbness persists you could consider changing it. Btw ride(sic)ing has no e in it!

volociroldster

Height differential between the bar and saddle may be an issue. You may be locking your elbows or stooping too low for too long?? When i got back into road cycling a few years back it probably took me 2/3 months to bone up on ride position and then make slight tweeks here and there to my own set-up on my own ride-outs. Look at the way in which pro's alternate between drop, top and hoods There are a few basics that are easily searchable on the 'net in terms of ride position.

blueneedles

Thankyou for your responces! Im just wondering on moveing the seat back as that would surely put me at more strectch wouldnt it? il give it a go non the less.

I think a set of decent gloves are in order from your comments as i ride at the momment with just a MTB style work glove (no padding) so i shall add these to my shopping list as well as thicker bar tape when i get round to buying them.

while looking at bar width via CRC etc i was seeing that the magority of bars was between the 400mm and 420mm range as a common size so again im thankfull for your assistance

As for my spelling im dyslexic so thankyou for pointing out my mistakes

racingcondor

A side on picture of the bike and then one of you on it (near pedal at the 3 o'clock and then 6 o'clock position) would help.

I could be a number of things from -
- saddle too far forward,
- frame too large (distance between saddle and bars too long for you),
- a lot of drop from saddle to bars,
- you, as a new rider needing time to adapt (i.e. lack of core strength meaning you're putting a lot of weight on the bars),

blueneedles

i shall add some images to show my current set up on the loan bike im rideing.

hatch87

What I found is that I was hunching a lot which gave me shoulder ache. I've improved my core strength and it helped a lot, I can hold my weight my comfortably now. Only do a few press ups, 5 sets of 10 or so, nothing to difficult. Sometimes stretch and do leg lifts during the 60 second rest between reps

blueneedles

racingcondor wrote:

A side on picture of the bike and then one of you on it (near pedal at the 3 o'clock and then 6 o'clock position) would help.

I could be a number of things from -
- saddle too far forward,
- frame too large (distance between saddle and bars too long for you),
- a lot of drop from saddle to bars,
- you, as a new rider needing time to adapt (i.e. lack of core strength meaning you're putting a lot of weight on the bars),

Ah i forgot the pic of me on the bike il get my wife to assist me with that when i finish work tonight.

My core strengh is one of my main weekness as well as poor leg strengh but ive seemed to get alitlle bit more out of road rideing and thats the main reason why im going to stick at it!! but i struggle to do sit ups and lunges so its all a struggle to me especially when im doing everything on my own..

blueneedles

hatch87 wrote:

What I found is that I was hunching a lot which gave me shoulder ache. I've improved my core strength and it helped a lot, I can hold my weight my comfortably now. Only do a few press ups, 5 sets of 10 or so, nothing to difficult. Sometimes stretch and do leg lifts during the 60 second rest between reps

thankyou good sir I shall try to do sit ups etc to improve core as i mentioned above my core is very weak, i struggle to hold my own strengh if i bend over for to long, walk up stairs etc etc.

i have a small amount of weights but no bench. Il have a good look into core and leg workouts i can do at home with what i have to hand

hipshot

Ive found these core workouts are all i've needed. Some are quite hard at first so build up to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVct9di8wlE

hatch87

Looks good. Not a fan of sit ups which is why I do leg lifts/raises instead. They're just easy things to do for ten minutes before bed. I got an app which increases the reps each time, its called 6 week training on WP

Camcycle1974

As for my spelling im dyslexic so thankyou for pointing out my mistakes [/quote]

Ah, sorry. no offense intended :oops: . It sounds counter-intuitive to move the seat back but it moves your centre of gravity rearwards and thus puts less weight on the hands.

JayKosta

I'd tilt the bars UP a little. That will shorten the reach slightly, and reduce the feeling of your hands slipping 'down hill'.

A good at-home exercise for legs and cardio endurance is to use a step bench that is a comfortable height.
1) step up with right foot (keep foot flat, not toe raise, keep your torso upright so you are not leaning forward)
2) lift left knee to about waist level
3) lower left foot to floor
4) lower right foot to floor
5) step up with left foot
and keep going.....
Also use a fan for cooling, and expect to be dripping sweat after a while.
Use a pace that is as fast as you can maintain with good form, but make sure that you are stepping, and not running.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

volociroldster

Agree with Jay; pulling the bar up, even by 1/4", may bring the hoods into a position where your wrists aren't angling down and placing strain on the wrist joint. Strain on the wrist WILL translate into shoulder ache and backache. In the current position road vibration coming up through the forks may be causing additional repetitive strain on already stretched tendon and muscle with the hoods appearing to be so down and forward. If this fixes things brill - if it causes your back to curve then moving the seat back a little should remedy it. With hands on hoods and saddle running parallel to flat ground i would look to have your hands and forearms parallel with the ground with your back in a straight line at around 45 degrees to the horizontal. Bear in mind you should be flexed at the elbows, not locked. This ain't exact and i may get 'pelted' but if you sort out the position with hands on the hoods it may just inform how and when you go down on the drops. Going on the drops for large portions of time ain't the be all and end all for most recreational cyclists BTW. Everything is a compromise when (like me) it ain't a custom frame.

ed_j

I had terrible hand numbness on any ride 30 miles plus. In the end I fixed it by swapping my undersize bars for oversize, and swapping my stem. I had old 90s style bars and stem before that and although nice and lightweight they did absolutely nothing to stop road buzz.

A cheap solution, try double wrapping your bars.

blueneedles

hipshot wrote:

Ive found these core workouts are all i've needed. Some are quite hard at first so build up to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVct9di8wlE

Thank you for this dude i will struggle with most of these but will give em a bash

blueneedles

Camcycle1974 wrote:

As for my spelling im dyslexic so thankyou for pointing out my mistakes

Ah, sorry. no offense intended :oops: . It sounds counter-intuitive to move the seat back but it moves your centre of gravity rearwards and thus puts less weight on the hands.[/quote]


no offence taken dude, sorry if i came across as agressive i dont tend to bite these days regarding this matter

blueneedles

so here is my rideing position as earlyer requested via the set up shown in previous posts.

images in sequence of Top bar, curve section and hoods..







i didnt take an image of me on the drops as ive never used them yet as im still getting used to road bikes and how they handle infact im not sure of the correct time to use them :oops:

blueneedles

JayKosta wrote:

I'd tilt the bars UP a little. That will shorten the reach slightly, and reduce the feeling of your hands slipping 'down hill'.

A good at-home exercise for legs and cardio endurance is to use a step bench that is a comfortable height.
1) step up with right foot (keep foot flat, not toe raise, keep your torso upright so you are not leaning forward)
2) lift left knee to about waist level
3) lower left foot to floor
4) lower right foot to floor
5) step up with left foot
and keep going.....
Also use a fan for cooling, and expect to be dripping sweat after a while.
Use a pace that is as fast as you can maintain with good form, but make sure that you are stepping, and not running.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

thank you very much for this i shall be giving this a go also aswell as the other exersizes that were posted previously

ed_j

Have a play:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... rator=true

crankycrank

As well as the other potential problems mentioned it could just be a case of a very stiff front end hammering away on your upper body and giving you headaches. Try some bar pads and cushy tape. I remember when steel bikes and quill stems were being replaced by alu frames and stiff clamp on stems soreness seemed to be a very common problem until the builders figured out how to make them more compliant. Looks like your bike is alu with a very beefy fork and even with the quill stem (am I seeing that right?) it appears to have a stiff, ovalised extension.

Mindermast

I think, the saddle could be pushed back quite a bit, hard to tell from a photo though. The front of the knee should be right above the pedal axle when the pedal points forward. And the front axle should be covered by the handle bar when you sit in the upper position with straight arms. These are guidelines, not laws, but were pretty helpful for me. On the first photo, your grip looks pretty tight and your shoulders seem to be high. Even if you rest your upper body on the arms, don't let the shoulders rise.

blueneedles

Ed J wrote:

Have a play:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... rator=true

Really like the look of this will be getting the wife to help me with this for sure!!!

thankyou kindly

blueneedles

crankycrank wrote:

As well as the other potential problems mentioned it could just be a case of a very stiff front end hammering away on your upper body and giving you headaches. Try some bar pads and cushy tape. I remember when steel bikes and quill stems were being replaced by alu frames and stiff clamp on stems soreness seemed to be a very common problem until the builders figured out how to make them more compliant. Looks like your bike is alu with a very beefy fork and even with the quill stem (am I seeing that right?) it appears to have a stiff, ovalised extension.

the bike pictured is alu yes im definatly looking into thick bar tape or double wrapping with a 400/420mm bar istead of the 460 that is on, The main reason for the oversize bar is to accomodate grip shifters on this bike but my build bike will have STI shifters on a modern 31mm bar so will hopefully add to comfort

blueneedles

Mindermast wrote:

I think, the saddle could be pushed back quite a bit, hard to tell from a photo though. The front of the knee should be right above the pedal axle when the pedal points forward. And the front axle should be covered by the handle bar when you sit in the upper position with straight arms. These are guidelines, not laws, but were pretty helpful for me. On the first photo, your grip looks pretty tight and your shoulders seem to be high. Even if you rest your upper body on the arms, don't let the shoulders rise.

I moved the handle bar angle up to tke the slip down effect of my hands which felt alot better over the last few rides and moved the seat back about 10mm and also moved the pitch 1 notch with made things aliitle better again!!! I defo need to work on my core and back muscles as they are my weekest points