Sore hands

Ergon is (probably) the answer.

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Side effect of more modern LLS geo and steeper seat tubes and slight nose down saddles?

Different handlebar backsweep?

Bearback +1, I've been amazed at the difference saddle tilt (and to a lesser extent fore/aft position) makes on my road and gravel bike.

I'm fussy about the roll of my handle bars. If it's wrong I get massive hand pain.

I tried some spank vibrocore bars because they were the right rise and cheap. The sweep and angle on them really suits me.

Can you swap the handle bar over from your last bike?

Same bar diameter?

I got a new bike and had really sore hands. It was harsh. Realised it had 35mm clamp bars. Changed them for OneUp and that solved it for me.

Thanks everyone

i will try swapping the bars, I need to swap the good bits from the old bike over but have been lazy. Wife is nagging me to sell it 😐🥴

frankconwayFull Member
Ergon is (probably) the answer.

Are these the ugly extended grips?

When/where are you getting sore hands?

For me there have been two solutions when I moved to my new bike.

First was that I was getting pins and needles from long days on the bike. This was because my new bike had a longer reach than my old one, and so I needed to reduce the bar width slightly.

The second was arm pump on rough descents. The solution to that was getting the fork serviced, because it had come with dry lowers which meant increased stiction and friction.

I've just swapped out my Renthal grips - worn them out with some ODI Longnecks. The Renthals were good but as they wore down there wasn't any 'padding' in them and I got pins and needles once over 15 miles...

The Longnecks are thicker and have a slightly squishier grip, so I'm hoping this will solve my issue. Suspect I should also look to see if I can raise my bar a wee bit, but that might need to be a new riser bar...

After that waffling...possible thicker and softer grips might be the required fix...I didn't get on much with Deathgrips, found them a good size but not much squish.

Depends on where the pain is. I was getting pain around thumb so brought the brake levers up and shortened the reach slightly. Pretty much sorted the issue. I had been riding old school straight line down arm, through straight pointed finger to lever, which was causing the issues on alpine descents.

Agree with above comment, I always end up rolling the bars back slightly otherwise I get pain around the thumb, also brought levers up slightly, makes a big difference.

Bar rotation would be a good place to start.

I was suffering terribly until about 3 weeks ago. Rolled them forward and much better.

Oh bar rotation
When i picked up the bike the bars were rotated back a bit and I dint like the look so rotated forwrard

What forks are they? If it's a new bike, then the fork lowers may be dry, with grease in the wrong places. It's what happened with my bike.

I tried some spank vibrocore bars because they were the right rise and cheap. The sweep and angle on them really suits me.

Also tried them but for the vibro. With their 8deg backsweep, they weren't as comfortable for me as OEM 9deg bars - had pain up the outside of my wrists.

What forks are they? If it’s a new bike, then the fork lowers may be dry, with grease in the wrong places. It’s what happened with my bike.

Fox 38 and on a new bike- done about 300 miles, out today after rotating at bit more forward and its only the left hand around the thumb that was really sore.

But had a sit on my Pivot Mach 6 and it feels so much more comfortable. Perfect almost From memory the mAch 6 has a long reach.

Day of next week so will swap the Burgtec bars over the the new bike.

I was getting some wrist pain on my new bike, it took a while to work out what was wrong for me. I set the bike up the way I like it but something wasn’t right. After a few rounds of going around in circles with bar roll and the brake lever angle and no change to the discomfort. I moved the brake levers inbound a little! They were off just enough that I was twisting my wrists to have my finger on the brake levers! Wasn’t much in it and I was pretty confident on what worked for me hence it taking a while to get right.

Bars with back and downsweep put your wrists in a neutral position.  Upsweep puts a twist in your forearm / wrist. the wider the bar the more backsweep you need to maintain a neutral position of your wrists / forearms  Hence all my bikes are set up with back and downsweep on the bars.  No hand pain even after day after day on the bike.

I believe from those who are much better riders than me that down and back sweep is not so good for control

for me it was wider bars 800 and ergon grips, cut down to a sensible 780 and replaced with odi elites feels perfect now. also i run my saddle flat.

Grip thickness. I prefer a chunkier grip so lock-on types work for me. Others prefer thin grips, that's why traditional slide-on types are still made.

Could be grips?

As other's have said, you could have more weight on your hands than your previous bike, resulting in sore hands.

Solutions could be to change:
- Stem length
- Bar height
- Bar width
- Bar sweep
- Bar rotation (remember to also rotate your brakes and shifter)
- Sadddle height
- Saddle angle
- Saddle fore/aft position
- To thinner grips

Obviously it'd be better to try the ones that don't cost you anything first.

Final solution could be to just keep riding and see if your body adapts to your new bike.

As an advocate of "just change one thing at a time so you'll know what made the difference" this weekend I cut 20mm off each end of the bar, rotated it backwards to get max back sweep, swapped the grips to the Giant version of Ergons, and pushed the controls way inboard.

On my 3 hour ride yesterday on mixed terrain over Cannock Chase (cheeky trails, not the built stuff) I felt more in control and comfortable.  No hand cramp.

I've no idea which change helped and I don't care.