Im pretty new

[GregFin]

Hey fellow MTBers, I’ve been reading here and riding for about 2 months now. I ride about 4 or 5 days a week about 15km average. I ride a Giant Revel 0. Im from ontario canada and loving spending all this extra time outdoors. I bought the revel 0 because it seemed like a decent entry level bike and I wasnt prepared to spend big incase I didnt actually enjoy MTBing once I got into it. Now I’m loving it and can’t get enough. I’m already thinking about getting a trance or something full suspension from specialized next season (or the end of this one…whenever the deals can be had).

I saw someone post a question that had the same bike as me so I felt it was finally time to sign up and take part.

Anyways, I have an issue that I’m hoping someone could help me with.

Lately, my hands have been killing me. specifically my pinky and ring fingers and their knuckles on both hands. I thought I had fairly tough hands as I’m a mechanic by day but appearantly not tough enough.

This isnt the usual sore wrists from leaning to heavily on them. I went through that and corrected it pretty quickly. Lately, I’ve gained a boost in confidence and have been riding much faster, consistantly 2 gears higher than I have been and feeling great, however, it seems I’m squeezing the life out of my handle bars as a result.

Any pointers/tips to correct this? Is it simply just me white knuckling for an hour straight causing this? If so, any tricks to help me loosen my grip? I can do it for a few minutes but as soon as my speed comes up, my focus shifts and a while later I’ll notice that I’ve got a death grip on my grips again.

[Greg Heil ✓ supporter]

Welcome aboard man!

"GregFin" wrote

Any pointers/tips to correct this? Is it simply just me white knuckling for an hour straight causing this? If so, any tricks to help me loosen my grip? I can do it for a few minutes but as soon as my speed comes up, my focus shifts and a while later I’ll notice that I’ve got a death grip on my grips again.

Yes, this is probably the issue. The simple solution: don’t grip the bars as hard. Even for some of us who have been riding for a while longer, it can be hard to remember at times, especially when you’re freaking out. I think it’ll get a little easier to ride loose as you gain confidence.

I’m sure you’re looking for a couple of concrete things to help you loosen up though. Try this:

1) When you’re feeling tight, take one hand off the bar and shake the pump out of your arms and fingers, and when you put it back on just barely grip the bars. Then the other arm/hand.

2) when you’re riding, you really shouldn’t be putting much weight at all on the bars. When you’re riding, try taking all of your fingers off of the bar and wiggle them around, like you’re trying to cast a spell or something. If you can’t do this, you are gripping too tightly.

Hope this helps!

[Tr0gd0r]

Yeah, what he said. It sounds like you’re making your ulnar nerve unhappy.
[url:1c7qt59i]http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_15_3_2.htm[/url:1c7qt59i]

[Dustin Gaddis]

Look into trying some Ergon grips. They take a little trial and error to get the angle set juuuuuust right, and they’re heavy and expensive (for grips) but they are WONDERFUL. I’m a semi-weight weenie and I don’t care when it comes to grips – both of my bikes have Ergon grips, and riding without them I find my hands hurting pretty quickly.

I just bought a new pair after wearing a hole in my old ones (I’ve been riding them for ~2yrs), I got the GR2/GP3 (the 2012 model was renamed GP3, but there are no changes other than the name. which is dumb). Same platform shape as the others I’ve used, but a different style barend. My favorite barend of theirs so far, and I’ve used 3 different styles. You can get them without barends too.

I’ll have a formal review on the blog before too long.

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/product/gp3

[nanook]

"dgaddis" wrote

…and they’re heavy and expensive (for grips)… You can get them without barends too.

A pair of the non-barend race version GS-1s (used to be named GX-1?) are only around 155g. For the added comfort, that is not much of a weight penalty over your average lock-on grips. But they will run you about $36 or so…

[Dustin Gaddis]

They last a lot longer than regular grips too though. I’ve managed to kill a few pairs now (wore a hole in one, another’s base plastic broke near the clamp) but it’s taken more than 2 years each time. Regular grips don’t last me 6months, I tend to ‘throttle’ a lot and wear them down to the bar pretty quickly.

[Corey Maddocks ✓ supporter]

"dgaddis" wrote

I tend to ‘throttle’ a lot and wear them down to the bar pretty quickly.

It’s those silly grip shifters that cause this. 😼

[endodaze]

Hey GregFin,

Checking a possible obvious cause that others may not have picked up or commented on. How do you grip your bars? Specifically, and since the issue is presenting in your ring and pinky fingers, do you ride double-fingering your brakes? If so, you are putting a lot of stress on your ring/pinky, and it’s no wonder you are death-gripping to feel you have better control, as you are essentially gripping your bars with just your two secondary fingers. You should grip using your index finger only on your brake levers. With three fingers on the bars, it will reduce stess on your two smaller fingers, improve the quality/strength of your grip, give you a better feeling of control, and quite possibly resolve your tendency to death-grip. I’d try this before going to an ergon grip. They are nice, but if you are just gripping with 2 fingers, don’t think the ergons will do spit for you.

[GregFin]

endodaze, great point, however my bike has pretty decent hydraulic discs for a starter bike. Im about 140 lbs, so I have no problem using only my index finger to work the binders in 99% of brake applications.

Also, Im not even covering the brake levers while im riding anyways. I feel like I have alot more control when I’ve got all 4 fingers on the bars so I only cover the brakes just before I’m about to use them. I dont feel like I’m fast enough to need that extra .05 of a second on the brakes. haha.

thanks for the link trogdor. That seems like exactly where the pain is coming from. Good read on that page too.

I tried the spell casting tonight after work as well as taking the odd rest and shaking my hands out whenever i could spare one. When I really focus on it its so easy to not squeeze them. You have all the control you want with a more or less slack grip, but my body is convinced the bike is going to leave us behind. haha. Anyways, I’ll have to see how my hands feel over the next day or so to know if its improving.

I’m going to stick it out with these grips for a bit longer and see if I can solve the issue I’m having by improving myself, but if the pain doesn’t receed sooner rather than later then I’m going to have to pick up a set of those ergon grips.

I see tons of people riding with normal grips and they aren’t complaining about this pain so I would like to try to fix my technique first.

thanks for the tip though.

[Jared13 ✓ supporter]

Welcome to the site, GregFin!

One thing that has helped me from getting WKS (White Knuckle Syndrome) is using the motto "Heavy Feet, Light Hands" from Lee McCormack. It helps with proper weighting of the bike but I also found it helps remind me to not squeeze the bars.

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