Hand pain/brakes?

[kristinek]

I have a women's trek but I'm still really struggling with hand pain by the end of long rides from braking. Does anyone have this problem? What can I do about it? Maybe I should also post this in the mechanical section...
thanks!

[ny biker]

You might need to adjust your handlebars. Changing the tilt on mine took away almost all my hand pain.

[OakLeaf]

Where's the pain? Does it feel like bruising, like muscle soreness, like cramping? Does it go up into your wrist or arm? Fit is almost certainly the answer, but that's a very broad category, it could be a lot of things.

[kristinek]

good question. sorry for the ambiguity.
oddly, it's not arm pain. it hurts right in the crook of my thumb/palm of my hand. basically, where the pressure on my hand while they're on the brake hoods and i'm braking with my fingers.

[OakLeaf]

Have you been fit to the bike? It's time and money, but well worth it with a good fitter.

Still, just stabbing in the dark, I guess maybe the first thing I'd look at is unfortunately the most PITA, which is moving the levers up on the bars (if they're not already at the top of the bend). You want the hoods and the drops pretty much parallel to the ground, but you should have some leeway as to where the levers are set within the bends. Where they set them if a bike is built without fitting you seems to be kind of a matter of fashion, but lately I'm seeing them about in the middle.

Tilting the bars up is a quick and dirty way to bring the hoods closer to you and to flatten the space where the bar meets the hood ... but that can often mean you have to tilt your wrists at a weird angle to reach the brakes or to ride in the drops, which is NOT good; it can make it hard to reach the brakes at all, and can lead to a lot of elbow and wrist problems. (Even if you don't like being in the drops as a matter of routine, you need to be comfortable in them for descending and cornering.) But a small change in tilt could definitely help.

Two things that make it easier to move the levers than it could be are (1) you don't have to unwrap the whole handlebars, only as far as the brake hoods, and the hardest part is getting it started on the drops. Pay attention to how the tape is wrapped around the lever brackets, and put a rubber band or a piece of masking tape around the handlebars below the hoods to keep the tape from unwrapping any farther than necessary. Also (2) since you'll only be moving the levers a short distance, you shouldn't have to shorten the cable housings, just re-tape them on the bars.

Just a stab in the dark, but HTH.

[kristinek]

i did pay for and have a bike fit, but i think you're right. the fit needs tweaking. back to the drawing board.

[redrhodie]

I'm wondering if it could be glove fit? I have some gloves that put pressure right on that spot.

[featuretile]

When I first got my road bike (Specialized Ruby) my hands and forearms hurt after a long ride. I slightly tilted the handlebar up so that the area between my thumb and forefinger rests comfortably, and the pain was gone.

Then I got a Bike Friday that was pre-owned. After it's maiden voyage of 45 miles my hands were killing me because the reach was too extended and all the weight was on my hands. I was leaning too far forward. I went to a bike store and bought an adjustable stem. Pain gone.

I think it's all in bike fit. Your hands should be able to rest in a relaxed position on the handlebars. Imagine where your hands would like to be if they were relaxed (in the air) and then get the handlebars to be where your hands were. It worked for my both times.

[WolfGirl]

Then I got a Bike Friday that was pre-owned. After it's maiden voyage of 45 miles my hands were killing me because the reach was too extended and all the weight was on my hands. I was leaning too far forward. I went to a bike store and bought an adjustable stem. Pain gone.

Just found the above while doing a search for hand/wrist pain. I'm wondering if weight on my hands is my problem as well. I had my bike fit 2 weeks ago, and have put 75-100 mi on it since then. (I don't keep good track.) At the fitting I got an extended stem and a new saddle; the stem was because apparently the other was too short. Since then my saddle problems have disappeared (yay!) but I'm having a lot of hand pain (boo). Now to be fair, I've had hand pain (unrelated to cycling) for months now, but it's been a lot worse in the last couple of weeks, especially as I've been trying to do yoga and such (downward dog is nearly impossible with the pain in the base/heel of my hands).

Is this just a matter of getting stronger in my trunk/arms/hands? (I realize that I'm quite overweight and out of shape.) Or is this a fit problem that I should make the guy who fit me fix? I'm particularly concerned at the moment because I had a crash today in which the already-sore hands took a ton of impact. When I start biking again (I have to bike to commute) I want to know how I can alleviate the hand pain as I heal up. I've also noticed that I'm not "parked" on the saddle anymore like I was with the old one(s); I more float on it, and I think I probably _am_ leaning forward more than I was. I hadn't been concerned before because the guy who fit me was telling me about balancing weight, yadda yadda...basically I'm just a bit lost. Any ideas?