[urbsuburb2017]

I normally commute about 10 miles a day, head off to the trails on weekends. In warmer weather, I wear lightly padded Lizard Skins Aramus leather fingerless gloves - no problems whatsoever.

I'm starting to extend my trail rides out to maybe 35-40 miles at a pop, and toward the end I get the "electric shock" type of pain in the lower palms (fleshy areas) of my hands.

Had a look around these parts for info. Seems its either more thickly padded gloves, or some kind of gel attachments for the bars. My bike is a Surly Pugsley with 3.8" Knards and an upright bar, plain old foam grips.

I never get the pain on rides up to about 3 hours. Anything above that - ouch! Ideas?

 

[sgltrak]

I like to use Ergon grips with the little built-in bar ends. They give me different hand positions for long rides and the flat part of the grip makes my hands more comfortable when I am in the normal riding position. I recently used them for a 3 day bikepacking tour and never had any had issues.

 

[urbsuburb2017]

Huge!

Thank for your note. Those look really enormous! I'll see if one of the LBS stocks them; they're usually pretty lenient about returning something if it doesn't work out... but the Ergon GP-1s might be OK. I don't partiularly like the bar ends, I think.

 

[toadmeister]

I second the grips recommend above and changing up your hand position. I went to a Jones bar for better ergonomics and more hand positions on my fat bike.

Also consider how much pressure your putting on your hands based on your seat position & angle. A slight seat adjustment can have a positive result for your hands.


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[urbsuburb2017]

OK, after a discussion with one of the guys at my local LBS, it seems like the Ergon GP-1, large size, trigger shifter length, is the way to go. I saw a video about hand position as well, so I think I get the general picture. The bar on my Pugs is just a Giant Contact that the first owner of the bike installed, nothing fancy, but seems fine for me. I'll see how the new grips work before thinking about a different bar - juggling too many variables at once can sometimes make something simple into something needlessly complicated!

 

[d365]

Rotating your levers a little in either direction can change pressure points too. Just something else to look at.

 

[BeDrinkable]

Honestly, this is the reason I still use bar ends. Not being able to change hand position really started to bother me, pretty much in the way you describe. Some younger guys look at them but it's worth it!

 

[Nurse Ben]

I assume you already do the typical stuff like adjust your hand position by moving your hand around the grip, rest a hand, stretch out, etc ...

Some things to try:

Cheap fixes:
Rotate the bars to adjust sweep angle up or down
Raise/lower your bars on the steerer.
If you use asymmetrical grips, rotate then up/down
If you ride wide bars, consider sliding your grips inboard to see if the bars are too wide.
Adjust your seat position up/down and fore/aft to change body position

Expensive fixes:
Try different grips
Try different gloves
Try different bars

Reality:
Those are long rides, your hands may hurt.

I find a higher bar height relative to seat position tends to reduce hand pressure, same with having a more compact body position.

I have a box of Ergon grips, just can't tolerate them because the metal clamping mechanism puts pressure on my palm. Now using Karv Monkey grips, best so far, still get sore in my outside/lower palm, but it's better.

Bar ends may be making a comeback

 

[in the trees]

Maybe look at Rev Grips? I’m trying a set, and so far so good.

 

[urbsuburb2017]

I installed the large size Ergon grips and went out for a 40-mile spin last Sunday. Much better, but still not perfect. I am experimenting with adjusting the angle of the grips and possibly the overall bar height. I may try to get to the bottom of the issue by stopping back at the LBS where I got the grips and seeing what they think of my position on the bike relative to what the grips can do. Lots of variables in play, no doubt!

The wide support area under the thick parts of my hands/palms is much more comfortable than any kind of strictly "round" grip would be, I think.

 

[sgltrak]

For the first several rides with my Ergon grips, I kept them just loose enough that I could turn them a bit on the bars to adjust the flat part up or down with some force. This allowed me to fine-tune them until they felt comfortable before tightening them in their final position. Also, I found that the small size was more comfortable for me (5'10" and 160lbs).

 

[urbsuburb2017]

I guess I'm kind of doing the same thing. My morning commute is only about 5 miles. When I get to my destination, I get out the torque wrench and make a (small) adjustment. On the ride back home I evaluate, repeat whole thing as necessary. I'm 5'9, 125 lbs, but large hands, so the large size grip seems fine.