flat bars: How do you guys do it?

[Fritz M]

I have a couple of road bikes, a mountain bike, and a BMX bike. I've
been doing 20-50 mile road rides on road bikes since the early 80s with
no long-term discomfort.

In the past, I've never gone more than about eight miles on the MTB.
The MTB has the quick-release seat post which is real handy for the
trailer-bike that my daughter rides. We went 20 miles Saturday. Here it
is four days later and my left wrist and lower arm still hurt. It feels
like some sort of tendonitis.

You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
the wrist pain?

RFM

[Betty Harris]

From: "Fritz M" : 11 May 2005 10:14:51 -0700
Local: Wed,May 11 2005 1:14 pm
Subject: flat bars: How do you guys do it?


"You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you
avoid
the wrist pain?"


You have to build up your wrists through exercise. Dennis P. Harris
claims to have found the best way to do this is by masturbating 15
minutes out of every hour. You have to alternate hands, though.

[Pat]

:: You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
: the wrist pain?
:
: RFM

Don't cock your wrists backward. Change your grip from time to time. Let one
hand hang down and shake it a little to get the blood circulating when the
pain starts. Keep your elbows in--don't hunker down over the bars with your
elbows 'way out. make sure you aren't riding with the majority of your
weight resting on your hands. Don't grip the bars in a death grip. Check to
see if your handlebars are too wide---I was told they should be as wide as
your shoulders (right before the guy cut an inch and a half off of my new
bars). Use soft grips on the bars (I really like Oury grips). Wear padded
gloves. Take frequent breaks. But, mainly, don't put all of your weight on
your hands!

Pat in TX
:

[Fritz M]

Pat in TX wrote:

> [lots of good advice regarding wrist position, etc]

Thanks, Pat, this is all helpful. I'm very light on the handlebars --
my hands almost float with just enough pressure to control the
streering when I hit bumps and what-not; this is a necessity with road
bikes without front suspension. I pretty much do all of what you
suggest except change positioning -- how is that done with flat bars? I
have bar ends and I guess that helps some, though when my hands are on
the bar ends I tend to hold them a little tighter and that's
uncomfortable for me.

RFM

[Mark Mitchell]

On Wed, 11 May 2005 15:41:05 -0500, Pat wrote:

>
> :: You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
> : the wrist pain?
> :
> : RFM
>
> Don't cock your wrists backward. Change your grip from time to time. Let
> one hand hang down and shake it a little to get the blood circulating when
> the pain starts. Keep your elbows in--don't hunker down over the bars with
> your elbows 'way out. make sure you aren't riding with the majority of
> your weight resting on your hands. Don't grip the bars in a death grip.
> Check to see if your handlebars are too wide---I was told they should be
> as wide as your shoulders (right before the guy cut an inch and a half off
> of my new bars). Use soft grips on the bars (I really like Oury grips).
> Wear padded gloves. Take frequent breaks. But, mainly, don't put all of
> your weight on your hands!
>
All good advice, one more; Make sure that your brake levers are aligned
with your arms.

In other words, if you draw a straight line from your elbows to your
wrists, the line should pass through (or at least close to) the brake
levers.

YMMV

Mark

[bbaka]

Fritz M wrote:
> Pat in TX wrote:
>
>
>>[lots of good advice regarding wrist position, etc]
>
>
> Thanks, Pat, this is all helpful. I'm very light on the handlebars --
> my hands almost float with just enough pressure to control the
> streering when I hit bumps and what-not; this is a necessity with road
> bikes without front suspension. I pretty much do all of what you
> suggest except change positioning -- how is that done with flat bars? I
> have bar ends and I guess that helps some, though when my hands are on
> the bar ends I tend to hold them a little tighter and that's
> uncomfortable for me.
>
> RFM
>
Be unconventional and try some different ways of using the bars you
have. I have tried moving my hands to the middle where I can tough
thumbs or leaned forward and rested my elbows on the bars, though only
for a short time as even that gets uncomfortable. You could, and I am
not recommending it, swap in a set of drop bars, road bike style, if
your bike's construction allows it. I did notice today that my major
discomfort came from pressure on the palms of the hands, so it seems
there may be some nerves or blood vessels in there that don't like that
position. The seat height is pretty much a function of your leg length
so the bar height seems to be all you can mess with short of a different
frame sized bike.
Good luck with it all.
Bill Baka

[AndyC]

"Fritz M" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I have a couple of road bikes, a mountain bike, and a BMX bike. I've
> been doing 20-50 mile road rides on road bikes since the early 80s with
> no long-term discomfort.
>
> In the past, I've never gone more than about eight miles on the MTB.
> The MTB has the quick-release seat post which is real handy for the
> trailer-bike that my daughter rides. We went 20 miles Saturday. Here it
> is four days later and my left wrist and lower arm still hurt. It feels
> like some sort of tendonitis.
>
> You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
> the wrist pain?
>
> RFM
>

I've got a road (rigid) MTB with flats and I've put bar ends on. Not exactly
"the fasion" these days but it allows a range of hand positions not really
possible with straight flats. For me that's allowed regular rides of 50+
miles without grief.

As an aside, cutting the end off the grips so I could slide them onto the
bars further was easy, I just got a bit of wood and banged the end of the
bars... it punched the end of the grip out nicely!

Regards,
AndyC

[Tom Keats]

In article om>,
"Fritz M" > writes:

> You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
> the wrist pain?

The real trick to it is to accept the flat bar'd bike's
limitations, and not try to eke/squeeze/force drop-bar'd
road bike performance out of it. That includes not pulling
up on the handlebar to unweight the front wheel and weight
the rear wheel, just to go 1 lousy MPH faster, while
fighting against the air. Relax. Hang loose. Let the
roadies breeze pass ya.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

[bbaka]

Tom Keats wrote:
> In article om>,
> "Fritz M" > writes:
>
>
>>You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
>>the wrist pain?
>
>
> The real trick to it is to accept the flat bar'd bike's
> limitations, and not try to eke/squeeze/force drop-bar'd
> road bike performance out of it. That includes not pulling
> up on the handlebar to unweight the front wheel and weight
> the rear wheel, just to go 1 lousy MPH faster, while
> fighting against the air. Relax. Hang loose. Let the
> roadies breeze pass ya.
>
>
> cheers,
> Tom
>
Been doing that for years. My Schwinn would have been on the road except
for financial challenges. Slow MTB is better than walking any time though.
Bill Baka

[araby]

"Pat" > wrote in message
...
>
> :: You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
> : the wrist pain?
> :
> : RFM
>
> Don't cock your wrists backward. >
>
As opposed to wristing your cock as previously suggested ? :)

[H M Leary]

In article . com>,
"Fritz M" > wrote:

> Pat in TX wrote:
>
> > [lots of good advice regarding wrist position, etc]
>
> Thanks, Pat, this is all helpful. I'm very light on the handlebars --
> my hands almost float with just enough pressure to control the
> streering when I hit bumps and what-not; this is a necessity with road
> bikes without front suspension. I pretty much do all of what you
> suggest except change positioning -- how is that done with flat bars? I
> have bar ends and I guess that helps some, though when my hands are on
> the bar ends I tend to hold them a little tighter and that's
> uncomfortable for me.
>
> RFM

Fit, Fit, Fit! The mantra for any bike.

Get a set of bar ends and set them so your forearm and wrists are
straight.

I have a Moots cyclecross witha straight bar - and bar ends - and I rode
it accross the country without any wrist pain. Then the "experts" told
me I couldn't do that.

HAND - Ride Safe

[Fritz M]

Bill Baka wrote:
> You could, and I am
> not recommending it, swap in a set of drop bars, road bike style, if
> your bike's construction allows it

If it's good enough for Tomac, it's good enough for me :-)

http://www.yetifan.com/tomac-dropsws.jpg

RFM

[bbaka]

Fritz M wrote:
> Bill Baka wrote:
>
>>You could, and I am
>>not recommending it, swap in a set of drop bars, road bike style, if
>>your bike's construction allows it
>
>
> If it's good enough for Tomac, it's good enough for me :-)
>
> http://www.yetifan.com/tomac-dropsws.jpg
>
> RFM
>
Looked pretty good to me.
Bill Baka

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
bbaka > writes:
> Tom Keats wrote:
>> In article om>,
>> "Fritz M" > writes:
>>
>>
>>>You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
>>>the wrist pain?
>>
>>
>> The real trick to it is to accept the flat bar'd bike's
>> limitations, and not try to eke/squeeze/force drop-bar'd
>> road bike performance out of it. That includes not pulling
>> up on the handlebar to unweight the front wheel and weight
>> the rear wheel, just to go 1 lousy MPH faster, while
>> fighting against the air. Relax. Hang loose. Let the
>> roadies breeze pass ya.
>>
>>
>> cheers,
>> Tom
>>
> Been doing that for years. My Schwinn would have been on the road except
> for financial challenges. Slow MTB is better than walking any time though.
> Bill Baka

In my own experience, switching from road bike to slower MTB
can initially be somewhat frustrating; I've experienced that
"Why is this thing so damn slow" feeling, myself. The alternate --
switching from slower MTB to faster road bike, has its own
weirdness, too. Speaking of which, I guess it's about time
to blow the cobwebs off the ol', neglected Sekine mixte.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

[RonSonic]

On Thu, 12 May 2005 20:10:55 -0700, (Tom Keats) wrote:

>In article >,
> bbaka > writes:
>> Tom Keats wrote:
>>> In article om>,
>>> "Fritz M" > writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>>You guys who ride all over the place with flat bars -- HOW do you avoid
>>>>the wrist pain?
>>>
>>>
>>> The real trick to it is to accept the flat bar'd bike's
>>> limitations, and not try to eke/squeeze/force drop-bar'd
>>> road bike performance out of it. That includes not pulling
>>> up on the handlebar to unweight the front wheel and weight
>>> the rear wheel, just to go 1 lousy MPH faster, while
>>> fighting against the air. Relax. Hang loose. Let the
>>> roadies breeze pass ya.
>>>
>>>
>>> cheers,
>>> Tom
>>>
>> Been doing that for years. My Schwinn would have been on the road except
>> for financial challenges. Slow MTB is better than walking any time though.
>> Bill Baka
>
>In my own experience, switching from road bike to slower MTB
>can initially be somewhat frustrating; I've experienced that
>"Why is this thing so damn slow" feeling, myself. The alternate --
>switching from slower MTB to faster road bike, has its own
>weirdness, too. Speaking of which, I guess it's about time
>to blow the cobwebs off the ol', neglected Sekine mixte.

I ride the MTB almost exclusively in the woods so it seems plenty darn fast to
me.

Ron