Noobie Needs Tyre Help (solved) - Pins and needles in hands?

leroy12

Just turned 30 and getting back into mountain biking (was avid throughout my teens).
I managed to pick up a barely used 2008 “Focus Killer Bee Disc” at a very good price and am overall very happy with the bike (after changing the cheap original pedals).

The only thing I'm not happy with is the tyres. The front “Swallbe Racing Ralph” I'm finding very twitchy and it drifts side to side a lot during pedalling on tarmac. The Rear is a “Specialized Fast Trak” and seems to be a bit sticky/slow.

Tioga was the brand of choice when I was a teen but they don’t seem to be so popular nowadays. And, there are a lot of brands around now that I’m unfamiliar with.

My ridding consists of 50/50 tarmac/trails, so am after good all round tyres that are not ridiculously expensive.

Any suggestions/advice will be greatly appreciated
Cheers

rockmonkeysc

Whats good on dirt isnt good on tarmac. Racing Ralphs are about as good a compromise as you will find.
Tioga havent made a good tyre since the Black Turtle went out of production.

The Rookie

The Schwalbe Smart Sam is a good compromise tyre, also the Panaracer Fire XC Pro works OK across a range of surfaces, but nothing is ideal on and off road.

leroy12

Both tyres look like what I'm after and I can get for roughly the same price, but which are better?

cooldad

I would say Kenda Small Block 8 unless it's muddy.

There is no better per se.

JBA

Another vote here for Small Block 8. They are a good choice for a mixture of road and off-road riding except, as cooled says, when it is very muddy.
Pump them up good and hard for the road riding and let air out for off-road.

The Rookie

Small block 8's are great unless it's at all muddy when the other two I mentioned are much much better.

SB8's cope fine on grass and gravel though.

leroy12

After the advice and research and actually looking at the tyres in my local shop I decided to go with th Smart Sam's. I've been on a couple rides since fitting and I'm extremely happy with them.

The only other issue I've been having is I'm getting pins and needles in my hands after about 30mins of riding. Could this be riding position or poor grips or something else?

Should I create a new post for this or rename this one?

Cheers

robertpb

Try loosening your grip on the bars, it should always be be as lighter touch as you can manage given trail conditions.

The Rookie

If it has cheap and nasty grips that can cause a problem, as can large hands on thin grips, otherwise you are probably just holding on too tight.

wilberforce

^^^^^. I used to get same problem. Changes to ODI Rogue's which are a bit thicker and problem solved

JBA

Check / adjust the angle of your brake levers as well. They should be in line with your forearm.
If they are too high you can put too much pressure on the balls of your hands and this can cause pins and needles.

RutlandGav

I am prone to carpal tunnel syndrome - got narrow wrists, if i grip anything tight for too long - telephone, mouse, handlebars - i get pins and needles. When i got back into biking, i ended up with pins and needles that took a couple of weeks to clear up from my first ride !

Bike fit might have something to do with it.

In my case i was able to solve the problem completely by fitting triathalon bars to my mtb - now i'm resting my forward body weight on my forearms rather than my wrist bones. It also shifts more weight forward making things easier on the seat area, and makes you more aerodynamic (faster).

The downside is that you can only really use this cruising on quiet roads, since you can't brake or change gear and have less control of the bike. It's also hard getting this stuff to fit a mtb, it's meant for roadies.

My MTB handles ok on the tri-bars, as did my first MTB - i can stay on the tri bars down to walking pace, and even when standing on the pedals to climb. But the second MTB became unpleasantly twitchy after clipping the bars on. Then again, when i finally removed the bars years later, it was no better - think the headset was shot.

Thread with pics of my bar setup on current bike (the 3rd MTB converted to tri-bar)

viewtopic.php?f=40052&t=13022484

cooldad

What's the point of a mountain bike you can only use on quiet roads with no brakes?

RutlandGav

cooldad wrote:

What's the point of a mountain bike you can only use on quiet roads with no brakes?

Depends what proportion of your riding is off-road/in town. I'm on the tri-bars 75% of the time, which makes it possible for me to ride.

Alternatively, my GP offered to refer me for wrist surgery. Get both wrists cut open so they can rearrange the internals and make more room for the nerve bundle. Being unable to work/workout/w**k for a few months didn't really sell the idea.