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Hand Pain

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flag jesse-effing-edwards
O+
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 17:26 Quote
Hello world,

I'm suffering from the age old issue of hand pain, which seems to have gotten hard to manage in the last few months. I've adjusted my fork, adjusted my levers and now have saints. I have been using the same ergon grips all season which I didn't think we were so bad to start. Could it be my grips? Does my fork have a bad tune even though it does't feel harsh necessarily? The pain is in my palms on the larger muscle that connects to the thumb. It was so bad with my old brakes that steeps were terrible, but even with saints I don't feel like it's fully solved. Last step might be new foam grips, I guess, but I never had this issue until this year even on way smaller bikes/forks, so not sure what to think. Maybe I'm just old. Whatever it is, it sucks!

Ibis ripmo AF, Fox 38 170, Ergon GE1, Raceface Turbine 35 Alu cockpit.

Would love to hear your stories.
flag lookseasyfromhere
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 17:31 Quote
Try a higher sweep bar? I fell backwards in love with 12° the very first lap and never looked back.
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:28 Quote
How old? I am 54 and deal with this, along with occasional pains in the hand joints, index finger and thumbs. Grips are minimal. I have tried foam, ran Odi Rogues and Oury for a long time. Foam didn't really help. My biggest help as been focusing on susp performance, ie, better off the top feel, less feedback from the fork. And, I have been taking black see oil for some time. They sometimes get sore, but not as bad if I am not having to hold on as tight knowing my fork ia going to float thru the roots, rocks, and trail chatter. I am also very active and spend a lot of time clearing my property with a chainsaw, so I have other factors affecting my hand fatigue.

I would say carbon bars help, which I have, but I feel susp performance is the biggest factor, at least for me.

Try really digging in on fork performance, improving it where it absorbs yet controlled.
flag jesse-effing-edwards
O+
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:47 Quote
gmoss wrote:
How old? I am 54 and deal with this, along with occasional pains in the hand joints, index finger and thumbs. Grips are minimal. I have tried foam, ran Odi Rogues and Oury for a long time. Foam didn't really help. My biggest help as been focusing on susp performance, ie, better off the top feel, less feedback from the fork. And, I have been taking black see oil for some time. They sometimes get sore, but not as bad if I am not having to hold on as tight knowing my fork ia going to float thru the roots, rocks, and trail chatter. I am also very active and spend a lot of time clearing my property with a chainsaw, so I have other factors affecting my hand fatigue.

I would say carbon bars help, which I have, but I feel susp performance is the biggest factor, at least for me.

Try really digging in on fork performance, improving it where it absorbs yet controlled.

I'm 45. This problem feels very new. I didn't find a season at the bike park too bad, but things lately seem worse. Could definitely be the fork as it's got 4 adjustments plus the variable of air pressure. I hate tuning forks, but if it's gonna solve this I'll take it
flag jesse-effing-edwards
O+
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:47 Quote
lookseasyfromhere wrote:
Try a higher sweep bar? I fell backwards in love with 12° the very first lap and never looked back.

I've never had one. Might be worth it. Athough I've been using this bar etc for a while so feel like it's something else.
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:48 Quote
Has the fork been serviced this season?
flag leftypumpkin
O+
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:49 Quote
When I use the brakes too much (or when I had too much high speed (edit:rebound) dialed in causing the fork to pack down) my hands definitely get sore.

Things I've tried that have improved hand pain:

1) go full french with your brake levers - rolled them upwards so my wrists weren't bent during descents
2) foam grips (super chunky on the fat bike, and either fat paw or mega fat paw cam grips on my summer bike
3) 12 degree backsweep (SQLabs) on the summer bike with as much rise as I could buy to get the weight off my hands during climbing, had to play with roll to get upsweep in the right spot
4) less braking (this is the hardest one, too much pucker at times!), it seems to get smoother the faster I go but then I run out of travel
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 19:55 Quote
Our bodies change with age, sometimes it feels like overnight. 50 was a big change for me. Dirt bikes were beating me up in my 40's. Got back to this and my body has thanked me, but time has caught up to me. If you think mtn biking is hard on ya, try throttle. Haha

I don't do bike park, but I like fast techy roots and such here in the foothills of NC. Hands can get a beating it fork is off. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much better I have been able to improve it. Hopefully, you can too.
flag paulmw
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 at 22:57 Quote
Maybe have a look at the position of your brake levers? When you're going down a trail and braking, is your wrist in line or slightly bent? If it's bent you're making the hand/wrist do more work every time you brake. This is just my armchair theory, feel free to ignore it!
flag Henryd555
FL
Posted: Nov 14, 2023 at 3:14 Quote
jesse-effing-edwards wrote:
Hello world,

I'm suffering from the age old issue of hand pain, which seems to have gotten hard to manage in the last few months. I've adjusted my fork, adjusted my levers and now have saints. I have been using the same ergon grips all season which I didn't think we were so bad to start. Could it be my grips? Does my fork have a bad tune even though it does't feel harsh necessarily? The pain is in my palms on the larger muscle that connects to the thumb. It was so bad with my old brakes that steeps were terrible, but even with saints I don't feel like it's fully solved. Last step might be new foam grips, I guess, but I never had this issue until this year even on way smaller bikes/forks, so not sure what to think. Maybe I'm just old. Whatever it is, it sucks!

Ibis ripmo AF, Fox 38 170, Ergon GE1, Raceface Turbine 35 Alu cockpit.

Would love to hear your stories.

close rebound in your shock a few clicks, sounds like you are getting pushed over the front too much. Yes it could also be stem/bar height since you mention it happens in the steeps but if you generally enjoy the fit of the bike start with the rear shock. If you are running recommended sag then I would slow down rebound a bit and if you are not I would try to aim for that recommended sag setting.
flag jesse-effing-edwards
O+
Posted: Nov 14, 2023 at 7:03 Quote
This is all great advice! I will reluctantly try it all, haha. I'm feeling more an more it's the fork, which is the most to work with. Took out the other bike that has a shorter travel Lyrik and it's got a spongier quality over the Fox and it seems my hands appreciate it, but the trail I rode was not steep so not a great test.
flag jesse-effing-edwards
O+
Posted: Nov 14, 2023 at 7:04 Quote
paulmw wrote:
Maybe have a look at the position of your brake levers? When you're going down a trail and braking, is your wrist in line or slightly bent? If it's bent you're making the hand/wrist do more work every time you brake. This is just my armchair theory, feel free to ignore it!

I did address this, took the bike out to try and then the rear hub crapped out so was never able to experience the new position. :S
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 14, 2023 at 7:05 Quote
The rear can def drive the front. It was more noticable in moto, but it is a factor. In fact, it can be lots of small factors. But, if it is something new, then I am of the simplest solution that makes sense, what changed. Forks need servicing, and we are getting older every day. Fork is where I would start.

I have suspected some of my thumb muscle pain to be from shifting, placement, but I can only rotate so much to keep brake levers where I want them, which have been that way for many many years.

I do know that my hands hurt less now than they did once I made changes to how my fork works and how I support my body weight. Black seed oil doesn't hurt either. Wink
flag mtnbikeracer76
Posted: Nov 14, 2023 at 13:49 Quote
When was the last time the fork was serviced? Fox recommends full service every 125 hours/once a year.

photo




I started to notice a decrease in performance just before my hands started to hurt more. Serviced the fork, installed a heavier spring, adjusted the shimstack. Helped out quite a bit. I'd have to say 75% of the buzzing causing the pain was gone, but wanted more. So I switched to a Thomson Ti handlebar. That was the key piece. It removed just about all the buzzing I was feeling through my Easton carbons. The only hand pain after that was from just being tired after rides and leaning more on the hands.
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