Hands are sore just after riding

[Kano]

I stopped to ask my "bike guy" about this at the beginning of my season too! First thing suggested was the position of my handgrips -- I have a Specialized Expedition, and the handgrips are not "round" they're sort of egg shaped. The "flat" part needed to be horizontal -- parallel to the ground (sure confused DH with that when discussing it with another new Expedition owner we met lately!) AND I needed to not lean so hard! A subsequent visit had them adjusting my handlebars some -- but that wasn't so much for my hands as my butt! (crunches after dark -- not the Nestle kind) had taken care of my hands already...

Something to try, though: do NOT wrap your thumb around the bar. You can't grip too tightly if you do this, and then you'll know if that's the problem!

Karen in Boise

[extra-vert]

Hi Sonya,

My sister in law just started riding and she's complaining about the exact same thing. She rides a specialized allez which fits her well (that was checked), with specialized women spec. handlebars and shimano sora shifters.

The interesting thing I wonder about now is that I just got my new bike with Salsa Poco handlebars and Ultegra shifters - she sat on it and exclaimed that the bars and shifters were immediately more comfortable to her. The question is: Does anyone know if there is a difference in shape or ergonomics, between ultegra shifters and sora ones?