Wrists and arms hurting



carsnoceans

carsnoceans

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Jul 24, 2010
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I did a 25mi ride this evening (on a trek 7.2 hybrid, paved road) and was wearing pearl izumi select gloves too. Moved hands a bit every mile or so but not a whole lot options for placement of hands on this bike...

Then i watched a fitting video on youtube. It seems that the bike stem might be too low and i am putting too much weight on the hands (225lbs body weight). I noticed my arms are pretty much straight and there is really no bend at elbows throughout. How can I make sure that this is a fitting issue and not something else? I am a beginner but despite of the new brooks saddle, my butt doesn't hurt, legs are slightly sore as expected but wrists and hands are in most pain. Is this normal?
 
carsnoceans said:
I did a 25mi ride this evening (on a trek 7.2 hybrid, paved road) and was wearing pearl izumi select gloves too. Moved hands a bit every mile or so but not a whole lot options for placement of hands on this bike...

Then i watched a fitting video on youtube. It seems that the bike stem might be too low and i am putting too much weight on the hands (225lbs body weight). I noticed my arms are pretty much straight and there is really no bend at elbows throughout. How can I make sure that this is a fitting issue and not something else? I am a beginner but despite of the new brooks saddle, my butt doesn't hurt, legs are slightly sore as expected but wrists and hands are in most pain. Is this normal?
Click to expand...

It's not normal to experience pain in the wrists and hands as you did. That pain can certainly be caused by having new much weight on your hands and arms. The too much weight on the ol' arm thing can come from the drop (vertical distance) between your saddle and handlebars being too big. That can be addressed by possibly adding spacers underneath the stem, by flipping the stem over (only if this increases rise, i.e. the angle of the stem either above horizontal), or by changing to a stem with more rise. Also, you can end up with this problem if your body is positioned incorrectly (too far forward) relative to the bottom bracket) Your arms being positioned such that there is no bend in the elbows is caused--assuming your position is correct with respect to the bottom bracket--is caused by having too the distance to the handlebars (essentially called "reach") be too great. This can be fixed by either decreasing the drop between your saddle and handlebars (as mentioned earlier) or by fitting a shorter stem.
 
It could just be you are gripping the bars to tightly?? I did that when I first
started riding.
 
Am similar weight and had some similar problems. A bike fitting helped, as does more frequently moving my hands.

Changing from a road bike to a hybrid (with straight bars and bar ends) solved it almost entirely, except for when i forget to move my hands or lock-out my elbows.
 
rawhite1969 said:
Am similar weight and had some similar problems. A bike fitting helped, as does more frequently moving my hands.

Changing from a road bike to a hybrid (with straight bars and bar ends) solved it almost entirely, except for when i forget to move my hands or lock-out my elbows.
Click to expand...

Actually I am thinking of going from hybrid to road just for the sake of more hand placement options on the handlebar.
 
I just bought a bike from a friend who bought it new, rode it 4-5 times and decided his 25 year old Trek steelie was more for him. We are the same height, I am probably 20lbs heavier(208) Same inseam, I ride a 56/57cm frame, I am a 33"inseam, 5'9-1/2" tall. So for me the bike frame size was perfect. He paid $1000 for the bike in March, Bianchi Via Nirone 7. he sold it to me for $500, I was not walking away from that deal.
Now... I have always rode steel frame bikes, trek 85' 400/86' 700 Tri series/89' 420 back when, I have been out of cycling since 1991. This aluminum frame, carbon fork thing is all new to me. I recently bought a 2010 Jamis Coda flat bar, steel Reynolds 520 frame. Bike was great, hated the flat bar part of it. So I sold it. I have been holding off for the summer, because the summer sucks in FL, too hot. I was waiting for the clearances to start for the end of 2010 bikes, maybe get a good deal. Well, I did, by accident. I have ridden the Bianchi a few times, and the first ride was miserable. My palms felt like someone smashed them with a bat. I read a few threads including this one about seat position bar position, etc. I had the seat level when I first rode it, bars in the middle of the 4 spacers(yeah threadless heads are cool, but new to me too). I knew I was putting too much weight on the bars, and maybe gripping too hard, I also went naked handed. So I came home read a lot online, and moved my seat back pretty much all the way, raised the stem all the way up, and rotated my bars a bit upwards. Another thing that is alien to me now is the brifters, all I ever used was downtube shifters, but brifters are pretty cool.

I rode it this morning, with the seat angled up a bit more also. It was not hurting my palms/wrists almost at all. At 100% pain on my first ride, I was down to maybe 10%, it felt better, BUT that Selle seat on there is KILLING ME.... Do I need to take that miserable thing off there and get another one or is it just a matter of dealing with the pain till my body gets used to it. I noticed what is said that steel frames do absorb road shock a lot better than aluminum. Yes I think my **** will be better if I wear padded cycling shorts under my regular shorts(never liked the spandex nake feeling), even back when I was 20... Any other reccomendations in me getting back into cycling, I don't like to feel like after a few miles wanting to get off the bike feeling miserable. I want to RIDE!!!!
 
Saddles are strictly a personal thing, what works for one person, even if they are the exact same size and build for you, won't work for another. Don't feel bad though, I'm still working on trying to get comfortable on my bike too. Same problems also, pain in my wrist and arms, still playing with the handlebars and seat position to get it right.

One thing to consider about your saddle is getting your "sit bones" measured. Check your LBS and see if they can do it, or do a search to see other homemade ways to do it. I need to do this myself once I get my handlebar issues resolved. By doing this you can at least get an idea of what size saddle to get, but you'll still need to try some out to find one right for you.
 
I too have suffered greatly from wrist and hand pain. You have already received some excellent advice on here. Yes, sounds like you were placing too much weight on your hands. I sit a little more upright than most, but we do what must be done to ride without pain. A few other things have GREATLY helped me- I use Specialized Bar Phat- gel inserts that are applied to the bar underneath the bar tape. There are two different thicknesses. I use Lizard Skin tape over them. Then, I use Spenco Iron Man gloves with the channel between the palm padding for the Ulnar nevere. Between the gloves and the bar phat (after adjusting my bars and stem) this has reduced most of pain and problems. Hope this helps!
 
carsnoceans said:
Actually I am thinking of going from hybrid to road just for the sake of more hand placement options on the handlebar.
Click to expand...

I'm riding with straight bar with bar ends. I have too much around the middle to ride in the drops on the road bike, so this set up gives me a nice variety of hand positions (on grips, on ends where bar ends go on, on bar ends, on top of bar ends, etc). I'm more upright than with drop-type bars, but still in a fairly aggressive position, not as upright as with the up-bend on standard hybrid bars. The bar ends are super-nice when climbing hills too!
 
carsnoceans said:
Actually I am thinking of going from hybrid to road just for the sake of more hand placement options on the handlebar.
Click to expand...
I am a 300lber and was having the same problem with the Trek. Tried different grips with a wider more ergonomic feel they were ok at best. 2 different fits on the bike still hd the same problem.

Sold that bike when i bought my new road bike (to exspensive to switch the bars to drop bars).

I LOVE MY NEW BIKE. 2 words of advise though
1. if you make the change buy an additional package of cork tape. I found the bars to be to small in diameter. I wraapped for the brakes to the stem and love them now.
2. Get the bike fit to you. I had the bike for a couple of weeks before getting it fit and it felt good. I got a basic fit last night and rode this morning i shaved about 5 minutes of the route that i do and still felt like i could keep going

I got the gloves you spoke of earlier today and cant wait to go for a ride tomorrow.:D
 
When I first got my bike, I also experienced pain in my hands/wrists after riding. A friend of mine had been bugging me to go get fitted from day one. WORLD of difference. Well worth the few dollars a local shop will charge you for a basic fitting. After the fitting I had no trouble riding faster for longer distances, and was more comfortable when doing so. Go get fitted!
 
It could just be you are gripping the bars to tightly?? [COLOR= blue][SIZE= 10.5pt] [/COLOR][/SIZE]I did that when I first
started riding.
 
My wife bought a bike in the late '80's (Giant Innova) rode it thru college, and it sat until this year. Her wrists hurt on any ride over 5 mi We replaced the saddle, no help. Then we moved the saddle more forward, and raised the stem to the top mark (maybe 1/2 - 3/4 in). Both of which put her arms more down, and the weight on the saddle, not the arms She has no pain on 20mi+ rides.
Just shows that sometimes, it's a small adjustment that's needed.
 
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