Question on sore wrists and palms

I have two bikes. A Surly CrossCheck and a Cannondale R6. I actually prefer the Surly because I feel safer on the wider tires (I know - probably all mental) and I average the same speed on both bikes, but the handle bars kill me on long distances. I think they are too narrow around (where you grip). I just rode 78 miles on her, and my bum and legs are perfectly happy (thanks Brooks Saddle), but my wrists and palms are sore - more the palms, but the wrists enough to be annoying. Short of the obvious (replacing the handballs), is there anything I can do for my upcoming ride (like different bar tape or something), or should I just buck it up and ride my Cannondale which gives me a rougher ride as it's aluminum for the LiveStrong 100 miler?

Are you gripping the bars too tightly? I don't see how "too narrow" would be an issue otherwise - not within the range of bars that are available anyhow.

Hmm, no, not any tighter than I grip my Cannondale's bars - and I don't have this issue on that bike.

Any chance that the saddle on the Surly is tipped down very slightly in the front (rather than level), causing you to lean forward and put more weight on your hands and wrists than you do on your Cannondale?

Sometimes just a tweak in your handlebar setup can make a big difference. Look at the distance/position of your brake hoods in relationship to you saddle- is it the same on both bikes? You can move the shifters around, rotate the bars, raise them up or lower them on the steertube, try a stem w/a different angle to get more rise or drop, etc... just try one thing at a time and see if you like it.

They make gell padding that goes underneath the bar tape to add more cushion and dampen vibration. You could try adding that.

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm going to play with the handle bar positions and look into the gel padding - that sounds interesting, too.

My LHT has the gell padding handlebar tape which is quite comfortable. I also use a pair of bike gloves with padding as well.

-Sue

Having just gone through this myself on my new bike, I'd venture to say that if your hands and wrists are hurting that much, there's something in your set up that needs to be addressed. Gel padding is likely not going to fix it. It could be how your weight is distributed between front and back and/or the bars themselves and how they are positioned (tilt, stem angle and length, and spacers).

Have you had a professional fitting? I will tell you that I tried to tweak just about everything I could think of in an effort to relieve my pain. I wasn't getting a whole lot of guidance from my regular fitter so I finally made an appointment with another fitter who specializes in biomechanics. I'd already swapped my bars from the FSA Compact Wing Pros that I'd originally selected for the bike for the Dedas that had been on my old Bianchi. After putting me through a battery of exercies, he also changed my spacers and stem--both length and rise. In my case, my upper body was too cramped and it was making me all kinds of uncomfortable. It would have seemed that simply lengthing my stem would have fixed it, but it wasn't quite as straightforward as that. I had to come both up and out.

So, as a starting place, you might want to identify what's different between your bikes' respective geometries to see if that provides some guidance as to why one is comfortable and one isn't.

can you sit on your saddle with no weight on your hands?
(maybe get someone else to hold the bike up for you?)
if you feel like you are sliding forward, you need to tip that saddle up a tiny bit more.

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Originally Posted by Loraura

They make gell padding that goes underneath the bar tape to add more cushion and dampen vibration. You could try adding that.

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Or take it out. If you haven't changed your bar tape, or your LBS changed it for you, you may still have the gel inserts that came with the bike....My hands are funny, I have broken all my fingers, both wrists, and currently have a healing thumb and too much gel under the tape makes the bar bulkier and hurts my hands. I don't notice any difference in vibration or cushion without it, and losing the bulk way helps.

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

can you sit on your saddle with no weight on your hands?
(maybe get someone else to hold the bike up for you?)
if you feel like you are sliding forward, you need to tip that saddle up a tiny bit more.

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Saddle tilt is a possible fix, but weight distribution on a bike is a bit more complicated than that. If your saddle is too far forward relative to the bottom bracket, then you will likely bear too much weight in your hands. Tilting the saddle up a degree or two is not going to change that and could just lead to a different set of problems. I would add that the steep seat tube angles common to smaller frames can make getting your weight far enough back even more difficult.

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Originally Posted by indysteel

So, as a starting place, you might want to identify what's different between your bikes' respective geometries to see if that provides some guidance as to why one is comfortable and one isn't.

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I was thinking this too. Particulalry if you find the pain is only a big issue on longer rides for one bike (meaning that your personal conditioning is likely not a problem). It's amazing how many tiny fit/geometry issues can pop up when you've been on a bike for a long time that might not be there for a 2 hour ride. I have two bikes that are now set up with identical positioning for me (even though the bike geometries are different), but for a long while, I could only stand 3+hr rides on one of them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by indysteel

So, as a starting place, you might want to identify what's difference between your bikes' respective geometries to see if that provides some guidance as to why one is comfortable and one isn't.

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Yes, do this down to the difference in the bars, the brake hoods, the angle of the hood to the bar on the horizontal (look at them from the side) and angle turned in/out. For instance, I get wrist pain unless my hoods are angled just slightly inward, and the right more than the left.

It can be a difference in the shock absorption of the forks on each bike through I would expect the Surly to have a softer riding fork. But the bar on it may be less shock absorptive depending on the material and model.

Thanks for mentioning forks, Sadie Kate. I've come to the conclusion that my fork is likely part of the problem, too. I went with an Alpha Q on the Moots. Great fork, but it's arguably too stiff for me. I really like the way the bike descends and the fork tracks, but it's not the comfy ride I wanted from my ti bike. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on it yet though. It's just too costly for me to change without REALLY being sure that it's a factor. That, and there aren't a ton of other options unfortunately. Plus, I am finally making some headway with the set up.

To the OP, you might also approach the problem from a different angle. Instead of figuring out why the Surly is less comfy, you might consider ways to make the Cannondale a little less harsh. What bar tape do you have on it? What tires are you running and at what PSI?

I had wrist and palm pain when my reach was too far. I got a zero offset seatpost and a shorter stem, along with new gloves and it solved the problem :)

Bike pains are complicated because it's part of a complex system of components that work together to make your bike fit :p

I have a whole array of things to try, thank you all! If I cannot get the Surly figured out, I'll probably just ride the Cannondale. Seriously, it's not that bad of a ride. I'm just in love with my Surly. :P

I compared my Surly to my Cannondale and realized the handle bars are actually tilted down much further. I'm going to raised them to see how that feels.