Customized handlebars

[rij73]

Hi ladies...

So after a couple of weeks of riding my flat-bar road bike, I was having certain discomfort issues with my hands -- particularly my thumbs. This is bad bad bad, because I'm a professional pianist. I tried different stem angles (thank god I got and adjustable stem) and different angles for the controls, but every ride was causing me pain.

So, what I wound up doing was playing around with the actual locations of my shifters, brakes, and bar ends, to try to figure out a position that would exactly fit the shape of my hand and eliminate the need to use my thumbs on the shifters. Pulling that chain up with my thumbs was killing me...

Behold my handlebars! I'm sure it looks totally bizarre. I can't tell you how amazingly comfy I am on the road though. I just rode 15 miles straight, and my hands feel like nothing happened. I push the lever with the side of my hand, hold on to the bar ends and keep 2 fingers on the brake at the same time. It feels secure and comfortable. I'm going to tape it up with handlebar tape for even more comfort.

What do you all think? These are clickable to bigger versions...

[SadieKate]

What do you mean "pulling the chain up"?

For flat bars, I only use 9-11 degree bend bars because the pain in my wrists is so severe. It puts my hands in much the same position as yours and lets me manipulate the controls normally.

[rij73]

What kind of bars do you mean?

I meant that pushing the lever with my thumb to downshift hurts a lot after a while. I figured it's harder than the upshift lever because the chain is going up to a bigger cog instead of down to a smaller one...

[KnottedYet]

If that nifty set-up you've created starts bugging you, you might want to look into a set of regular drop bars or albatross bars, which would also allow you to hold your hand in a shape that feels neutral and natural.

www.rivbike.com has albatross and moustache bars.

A lot of folks like the ergonomic drop bars like Salsa short and Shallow and Poco bars, too. Switching to drop bars could take a lot more work than going to albatross bars.

[velogirl]

Ingeneous! You've put your hands in a very neutral position -- just like they would be on the hoods on a drop bar.

One of the big struggles with bike fit is fitting folks with a flat-bar road bike. It's nearly impossible to put their wrists in a neutral position. I end up moving the levers in toward the stem (in alignment with their shoulders) and tilting the levers down, but it's still not perfectly neutral. This seems to be more of a challenge with new riders who have more difficulty relaxing on the bike (and thus grip the bar with more tension in their hands and forearms). More experienced riders (and mtn bikers) tend to be able to relax more.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

In my opinion the best thing about "regular" road bike drop bars is that you can keep switching your hand positions frequently between 4 or 5 totally different positions. This really helps eliminate hand fatigue, for me anyway.

[SadieKate]

What kind of bars do you mean?

I meant that pushing the lever with my thumb to downshift hurts a lot after a while. I figured it's harder than the upshift lever because the chain is going up to a bigger cog instead of down to a smaller one...

Flat bars like you have. All flat bars have a straight center section. They then bend at an angle back toward the rider. To achieve a neutral position you may need a bar at steeper angle. You may also want to look at Grip Shift (twist) shifters.

Look at the yellow line in this photo. There's the neutral postion.

If you cannot locate a bar with the correct bend, both Dean and Seven make custom flat bars that are worth it. Sometimes drop bars are inappropriate for the application.

[SadieKate]

This is another more expensive solution to the same problem. Years ago 11 degree bars were fairly readily available. People are finally getting the concept back. These bars are all over the Handmade Bike Show.

http://www.jonesbikes.com/update/hbar/index.html

[rij73]

Thanks so much for all the replies everyone! Those last bars posted are AWESOME! They cost almost as much as the bike, though. Still, they look like they'd be perfect. Nice to know there are more stylish options for the future. For now, this is working great, and now I know what to keep an eye out for.

I don't think drop bars would quite solve my issues, but that Jones Bikes bar looks perfect...

[SadieKate]

Titec licensed the idea from Jones and is making a much less expensive version. I may order one for my townie/cross bike. Though Bubba says the Jones bars are showing on eBay also. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

http://www.titec.com/ -- look for the H-bar

[KnottedYet]

Wow! Those Jones/Titec bars are seriously awesome!

(Hmmm, do I need to get another bike now, so I can use those bars on it?)