Question on sore wrists and palms

[andtckrtoo]

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?

[OakLeaf]

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.

[andtckrtoo]

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

[KathiCville]

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?

[Andrea]

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.

[Loraura]

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

[andtckrtoo]

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.

[canonsue]

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

[indysteel]

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.

[kenyonchris]

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

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.