Small hands & sore hands

PB Forum :: Girl's Clubhouse
Small hands & sore hands
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flag fraydiggity
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 at 2:36 Quote
Hi ladies

so my girl's really into DH & has progressed into quite a little ripper over the last couple of seasons, but the more harder & faster riding she does, shes started having a real issue with sore hands,
she's tried a few different grips & we've played around with the brake positioning a bit, but the thing is shes quite small (5 ft nothing) & hence has really small hands, which is quite limiting when it come to what we can try to make things better. (bigger grips, reach of the brakes etc)
So have any of you girls had any experience with this?
remedies & ideas you'd like to share about this would be greatly appreciated

we're coming over to whistler for 5 weeks in august & if we're going to make the most of it we need to get it sorted.

cheers in advance
flag adrenalinejunkie11
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 at 3:35 Quote
Hey,
Im not a lady, but maybe can help a little.
How close are you running her levers to the bar (as in reach/bite point)? Depending on the brake company, some will come in further than others.
Secondly, pick up a Powerball. If she uses it frequently she will really notice a difference, it has worked wonders for me!
flag fraydiggity
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 at 12:35 Quote
adrenalinejunkie11 wrote:
Hey,
Im not a lady, but maybe can help a little.
How close are you running her levers to the bar (as in reach/bite point)? Depending on the brake company, some will come in further than others.
Secondly, pick up a Powerball. If she uses it frequently she will really notice a difference, it has worked wonders for me!
hi
shes running the reach quite close, (there shimano saints) she has to cause shes got real short fingers, we ajusted them out slightly for one run & it was worse for the pain, a powerball could be the go eh...
cheers
flag adrenalinejunkie11
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 at 13:23 Quote
huntaway wrote:
adrenalinejunkie11 wrote:
Hey,
Im not a lady, but maybe can help a little.
How close are you running her levers to the bar (as in reach/bite point)? Depending on the brake company, some will come in further than others.
Secondly, pick up a Powerball. If she uses it frequently she will really notice a difference, it has worked wonders for me!
hi
shes running the reach quite close, (there shimano saints) she has to cause shes got real short fingers, we ajusted them out slightly for one run & it was worse for the pain, a powerball could be the go eh...
cheers

Which grips have you tried? You can get some that are pretty thin (Sunline makes "thin" versions of some of their grips)
flag wetigers
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 at 18:27 Quote
I'm 5 foot nothing as well so maybe I can help. Does her hands hurt when they're in a gripped position, or it when she is just resting on the bars? Is it a sharp pain in a particular area, or does it happen when she flexes her hands? Is the pain in the centre of her palm?

I pruchased the top o' the line gloves for riding and the padding really helped, plus my bf moved in the break levers for me, and that helped as well. Have you ever heard of Ergon grips? They come in a wide range of sizes and they're designed to relieve the soreness of gripping.
flag fraydiggity
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 27, 2010 at 3:28 Quote
wetigers wrote:
I'm 5 foot nothing as well so maybe I can help. Does her hands hurt when they're in a gripped position, or it when she is just resting on the bars? Is it a sharp pain in a particular area, or does it happen when she flexes her hands? Is the pain in the centre of her palm?

I pruchased the top o' the line gloves for riding and the padding really helped, plus my bf moved in the break levers for me, and that helped as well. Have you ever heard of Ergon grips? They come in a wide range of sizes and they're designed to relieve the soreness of gripping.
cool, thanks for the advice, hurting in the gripped position, achy pain right in the centre of the palm.
she searched those ergon grips & said they look "scary'...
we've got a box of old & different grips that we might play around a bit with, & some good quality gloves might be aquired
cheers
flag wetigers
Posted: May 1, 2010 at 12:34 Quote
Achy pain in the centre of the hands used to be so common for me, but I've learned a fews things over time that have made it go away. Now this may sound crazy -even my boyfriend thinks so- but when it comes to summer riding, I don't wear gloves anymore. What I found was when I stopped wearing gloves my hands formed a callus in the area that was once soft tissue, and now the only time my hands get sore is in the early season because I have to reform the calluses, which I lost over the winter. Like I said, it sounds crazy, but I find that my hands never get sweaty either because they're exposed to the air and they dry up quite quickly, sot there's really no fear of slipping off of your grips.

Oh and as for the ergo grips; don't be afraid, they will probably be the best things that'll happen for her hands.
flag srh2
O+
Posted: May 11, 2010 at 12:13 Quote
I also have tiny hands. For me it's not muscle pain it's the bruise that forms and swells in my palm...it makes gripping the bars quite painful. I have moved my brake levers in. I tried some different gloves and even wrapped my hands in tape to try to make things less sore/swollen. Right now I'm looking at replacing my grips to hopefully make things better. We'll see how that works Confused
flag littlewheelrider
Posted: May 29, 2010 at 9:04 Quote
I found some sweet new grips that are great for my tiny hands! I first tried them on my bmx then went back to the shop and got a set for my DH rig. They are the Macneil Traveler grips. I highhly recommend these grips for anyone with teeny hands.
flag FlyingPatroller
Posted: Jun 4, 2010 at 12:02 Quote
I used to have really bad pain in my hands and fingers last year. This year I changed the angle of my handlebars and played around with my brake/shifter position and found that it helped a lot.
flag luthien
Posted: Jun 8, 2010 at 9:36 Quote
I still fight with muscle pain. I could ride faster and more agressive but at some point my muscles refuse to do more work lol At the end of the day, I barely can move my fingers!
flag oceanp
O+
Posted: Jun 23, 2010 at 12:26 Quote
I too struggle with sore hands after a big day of riding. I've fiddled around a ton with leavers and grips but plan to check out some of the grips suggested on here. I bought new gloves last season and that has seemed to help somewhat - they are super padded! Does anyone know if there are bars that have narrower ends?
flag silentj
Posted: Jun 23, 2010 at 12:58 Quote
oceanp wrote:
I too struggle with sore hands after a big day of riding. I've fiddled around a ton with leavers and grips but plan to check out some of the grips suggested on here. I bought new gloves last season and that has seemed to help somewhat - they are super padded! Does anyone know if there are bars that have narrower ends?

pervin ya here Rebecca...

are most of you using ODI grips or other bolt ons? Just asking because the "thin" ODI's are terrible for padding as the tube takes up a bunch of diameter...then your hands get bruised.

The "slip on" grips should be better padded than bolt on ones for the same diameter, but they always have the issue of slipping around. The answer to that is a bit of sandpaper on the end of the bar to rough it up a bit and hairspray when installing. It lubes the grip when installing then sort of locks it in place when it dries (for a while anyways)

Lever position is huge. Just a little bit too far out and my hands get real sore real fast. If you're one finger braking, the lever should damnear touch the bar at full pull.

Has anyone ever tried road bike bar tape? Just throwing ideas out there.
flag oceanp
O+
Posted: Jun 23, 2010 at 14:01 Quote
silentj wrote:
oceanp wrote:
I too struggle with sore hands after a big day of riding. I've fiddled around a ton with leavers and grips but plan to check out some of the grips suggested on here. I bought new gloves last season and that has seemed to help somewhat - they are super padded! Does anyone know if there are bars that have narrower ends?

pervin ya here Rebecca...

are most of you using ODI grips or other bolt ons? Just asking because the "thin" ODI's are terrible for padding as the tube takes up a bunch of diameter...then your hands get bruised.

The "slip on" grips should be better padded than bolt on ones for the same diameter, but they always have the issue of slipping around. The answer to that is a bit of sandpaper on the end of the bar to rough it up a bit and hairspray when installing. It lubes the grip when installing then sort of locks it in place when it dries (for a while anyways)

Lever position is huge. Just a little bit too far out and my hands get real sore real fast. If you're one finger braking, the lever should damnear touch the bar at full pull.

Has anyone ever tried road bike bar tape? Just throwing ideas out there.

J - I've sent rockdogguide over here to answer your questions cause I don't really have a clue about my grip set-up. Doesn't your wife struggle with the same sore hands issue? I'm hoping that's the reason that you're perving in the Girls' Clubhouse...
flag rockdogguide
Posted: Jun 23, 2010 at 14:11 Quote
You are indeed running bolt on grips.

Hey J the next time we are out why don't you have a look at the levers on the old syren and give ocenp some helpful tips on positioning.
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