[Krunk_Kracker]

I recently purchased a Scott Scale 740, love the bike.

I've been fitting myself to it, and most everything seems good except for hand pain in my left palm.

I'm 5'11" and the bike is a large frame.

I was having pain in both hands, so I tried these grips - Syncros - Evo Plus Lock-On Grips | Bob's Bicycles | Boise, ID which helped a lot, now it is just in my left hand.

Should I try pushing my seat all the way forward, so as to push my hips forward and relieve some pressure on my hands?

I've tried everything that I know what to try, and before dropping $250 on a professional fit, I wanted to post up and see if anyone had any ideas that I haven't tried yet.

Thank you!

 

[WR304]

If it's a new bike are the handlebars significantly different to your old bike? The amount of backsweep that a handlebar has can affect how you grip the handlebars, putting pressure on different parts of the hand and potentially causing pain.

For the last few years I've used Ritchey 10D flat bars, which have a ten degree backsweep. Compared to a flat bar with less backsweep they feel more natural for how I hold the handlebars.

http://ritcheylogic.com/mountain/bars/wcs-carbon-flat-10d-mountain-bar.html

A couple of things to try before spending $250 would be to go back, measure your old bike and then double check the measurements with your current bike. You need four measurements from your previous bike in order to setup your new bike with the same position:

1 - Saddle height
2 - Saddle setback relative to the bottom bracket
3 - Reach (length from saddle to handlebar)
4 - Saddle - handlebar drop (Measure from the floor to the top of the saddle. Then measure from the floor to the top of the bars. The difference between the two measurements is the saddle - handlebar drop)

You should know the tilt of your saddle if it isn't perfectly flat also. (Put a spirit level across the top of the saddle and measure the difference).

Ideally, you'd apply the same measurements to your new bike so that the position is the same whichever bike you ride.

If you had no hand pain on your old bike setup you could also try taking the handlebars off that bike and putting them on your new bike to see if that helps.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

If it's a new bike are the handlebars significantly different to your old bike? The amount of backsweep that a handlebar has can affect how you grip the handlebars, putting pressure on different parts of the hand and potentially causing pain.

For the last few years I've used Ritchey 10D flat bars, which have a ten degree backsweep. Compared to a flat bar with less backsweep they feel more natural for how I hold the handlebars.

WCS Carbon Flat 10D Mountain Bar

A couple of things to try before spending $250 would be to go back, measure your old bike and then double check the measurements with your current bike. You need four measurements from your previous bike in order to setup your new bike with the same position:

1 - Saddle height
2 - Saddle setback relative to the bottom bracket
3 - Reach (length from saddle to handlebar)
4 - Saddle - handlebar drop (Measure from the floor to the top of the saddle. Then measure from the floor to the top of the bars. The difference between the two measurements is the saddle - handlebar drop)

You should know the tilt of your saddle if it isn't perfectly flat also. (Put a spirit level across the top of the saddle and measure the difference).

Ideally, you'd apply the same measurements to your new bike so that the position is the same whichever bike you ride.

If your old bike's setup worked for you you could also try taking the handlebars off that bike and putting them on your new bike to see if that helps.

Old bike is sold unfortunately :-/

I don't know the current specs of the handlebars on it, the Scott site only says "Syncros FL2.0 Tbar" and googling that doesn't give many results. I'll have to go home and measure it I think.

 

[WR304]

It looks like the Syncros bars are probably a 9 degree backsweep.

Which part of the left hand palm is hurting? Is it all of it, just on the outside, middle or nearer to your thumb?

A good test is to stand by your bike, reach out as though to grip the bars and then compare how your hands line up with the angle of the bars, whether your hands naturally fall into line with the bars or if you're having to twist your wrists to compensate for the position.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

It looks like the Syncros bars are probably a 9 degree backsweep.

Which part of the left hand palm is hurting? Is it all of it, just on the outside, middle or nearer to your thumb?

A good test is to stand by your bike, reach out as though to grip the bars and then compare how your hands line up with the angle of the bars, whether your hands naturally fall into line with the bars or if you're having to twist your wrists to compensate for the position.

It's the Ulnar Nerve that hurts -

- and it's the lower part of the bottom of my palm that is affected.

I'm not understanding what you mean by standing by my bike and testing. Is there an illustration for this somewhere?

 

[WR304]

What you're interested in is how closely the handlebar lines up with your hands and wrist angle when you're gripping the bars normally. If you're getting pain on the outside edge of your palm you want to try and reduce that pressure on the nerve.

Here's a picture I took showing what I'm thinking of. The bike's handlebar, ergonomic grips, brake levers and gear shifters should all be positioned in line with your normal hand angle when reaching out as though you were riding.

If you're getting pain on the outside of the palm you could consider some new gloves with thicker gel padding on the palms also as that could help.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

What you're interested in is how closely the handlebar lines up with your hands and wrist angle when you're gripping the bars normally. If you're getting pain on the outside edge of your palm you want to try and reduce that pressure on the nerve.

Here's a picture I took showing what I'm thinking of. The bike's handlebar, ergonomic grips, brake levers and gear shifters should all be positioned in line with your normal hand angle when reaching out as though you were riding.

If you're getting pain on the outside of the palm you could consider some new gloves with thicker gel padding on the palms also as that could help.

Oh yes, I know what you mean now. I've done that when I first go the bike, but it likely needs to happen again since I've adjusted my seat height and angle since then. Thank you!

 

[WR304]

I meant to add - have you been finding that the hand discomfort is worse when you're riding on rough trails compared to on smooth surfaces?

If the hand discomfort is worse on rough trails the setup of your suspension fork can have an impact. If the fork has too slow a rebound damping applied this causes "packing". If the rebound is too slow, the wheel won't have enough time to return between bumps. This causes the suspension to "pack down" becoming harsh and bouncy.

If it's doing that then speeding up the rebound damping on your fork a few clicks could help increase hand comfort.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

I meant to add - have you been finding that the hand discomfort is worse when you're riding on rough trails compared to on smooth surfaces?

If the hand discomfort is worse on rough trails the setup of your suspension fork can have an impact. If the fork has too slow a rebound damping applied this causes "packing". If the rebound is too slow, the wheel won't have enough time to return between bumps. This causes the suspension to "pack down" becoming harsh and bouncy.

If it's doing that then speeding up the rebound damping on your fork a few clicks could help increase hand comfort.

Ooohh, good idea!

That didn't even dawn on me. Since I ride a hard tail, I stand on most rough patches so it's tough to say which it is worse on. I will definitely spin the rebound be adjuster in a turn or so.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[WR304]

Fork rebound adjuster dials usually turn clockwise to slow the rebound damping ( + ) and counterclockwise to speed up the rebound damping ( - ).

If the fork is "packing" then you'd turn the rebound dial counterclockwise ( - ) to allow the fork to return quicker.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

Fork rebound adjuster dials usually turn clockwise to slow the rebound damping ( + ) and counterclockwise to speed up the rebound damping ( - ).

If the fork is "packing" then you'd turn the rebound dial counterclockwise ( - ) to allow the fork to return quicker.

Yeah I'm familiar with it :-D

I adjusted the rebound to be a bit faster, picked up some new gloves, adjusted my seat, and adjusted the angle of my ergo grips and it's loads better than it was.

Normally my left arm goes numb about 3/4 through my first lap, but yesterday I didn't even feel tingling until halfway through my second lap, do I'm headed in the right direction.

Thanks a ton for your input. I think I'm going to play a little more with the angle of my ergo grips.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[WR304]

Along with bike setup it's worth trying to get into a routine of consciously relaxing your grip regularly. If you're able to take each hand off the bars in turn, drop them down by your side and give the fingers a quick wriggle every few minutes (only where it's safe on the trail to do so!) that gives your hands and circulation a chance to recover. If you ride in one hand position all the time and forget to relax that's going to speed up the onset of any hand pain whilst riding.

I tend to find this especially useful whilst climbing. If I'm really fighting the bike up a steep climb I tense up a lot and wind up with a death grip on the bars. Reminding myself to let go of the bar occasionally helps relax my upper body and forearms a little. On climbs I just do a very quick hand off bar, pull back towards chest, wriggle fingers once and then back on.

On smoother sections riding with your thumb resting on top of the handlebar grip gives a slight change of hand position also. For bumpy sections you need to keep a proper grip on the bars but it can give your hands a rest in between.

 

[brentos]

I've face exactly the same problem. It generally happens on after a long week of riding and is a result of an existing injury.

When it gets bad, I throw on a pair of Ergon GX1 grips. Helps tons...and I need to use them a couple times a year. I prefer the ride feel of my ESI Racer's Edge grips, so I run those the rest of the time.

The Ergons may fix your problem.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

I've face exactly the same problem. It generally happens on after a long week of riding and is a result of an existing injury.

When it gets bad, I throw on a pair of Ergon GX1 grips. Helps tons...and I need to use them a couple times a year. I prefer the ride feel of my ESI Racer's Edge grips, so I run those the rest of the time.

The Ergons may fix your problem.

I have some Syncros grips that are identical to Ergons, and they've been a huge help.

At the suggestion of WR304 I angled them almost in line with my forearm and that made a huge difference. I had them almost parallel with the ground before.

Just got back from a laid back 10 mole ride and it was very minimal pain, I'm extremely pleased with this because before it was ride ending, now it's just a slight annoyance I think I can get rode of with minor adjustments here and there on the bike.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[NordieBoy]

Wider bars also help.
As your grip gets wider, the end of the bar moves forward, toward the knuckle of your little finger and away from the meat of the muscle where the ulnar nerve issue is.

I would get the tingles within 30mins, that would last for a week or 2.
Ergo grips stopped that, and then when I went from 680mm to 750mm bars, I could go back to my old ESI foam grips without issues.