Carbon Bars & Wrist Pain

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
The arthritis has gotten so bad that after an hour of trail riding my fingers are numb and it feels like my wrist is broken. I’ve wrapped it and tried various “ergo” grips but it’s not working.

Will carbon bars dampen some of the vibration? Any particular brand or type? What about other suggestions?

Thanks
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
I don’t have any hard data, as my carbon bars are sitting on my desk waiting to ve installed. But according to the theory they should be even worse than aluminum with regards to transfer the vibrations to your arms. Thare’s a new carbon bar that promises to solve that problem but it’s not on the market, the OneUp components carbon bar has a fla section between the stem clamp and the outer ends that ‘should’ dumpen the vibrations but retain the rotational rigidity that you want from the bars. Again, I don’t have any direct experience and I just read what OneUp says about their new product, but it may be worth looking into.
 

Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I agree with Ryan on this one.
My forearm and wrist pain went away after switching back to aluminum.
Rotate the brake levers up if not done already.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The arthritis has gotten so bad that after an hour of trail riding my fingers are numb and it feels like my wrist is broken. I’ve wrapped it and tried various “ergo” grips but it’s not working.

Will carbon bars dampen some of the vibration? Any particular brand or type? What about other suggestions?

Thanks
I have tendinitis in both my wrists....broke my right hand and my left arm/wrist...they have never been the same since...I get numb hands from any bar I have tried, carbon or alloy. Really what i have found to work best: 1. put nothing around my wrists...watches, bands, tight gloves or even the velcro closure on the glove. 2. Make a conscience effort to engage my core and take the weight off my hands as much as possible. (road bike especially).
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
i saw a sea otter product review of carbon bars that were going to have some up/down flex, but not forward back.
might be worth a look.

i get numb if i let the bars get into the palms, rather than just wrapping my fingers.
the brake rotation has worked wonders for my handling too.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
The arthritis has gotten so bad that after an hour of trail riding my fingers are numb and it feels like my wrist is broken. I’ve wrapped it and tried various “ergo” grips but it’s not working.

Will carbon bars dampen some of the vibration? Any particular brand or type? What about other suggestions?

Thanks

Have you tried the Ergons with the bar ends built in?
 

szymon

Active Member
The only things that are working for me are the esi super chunky grips and ritchey superlogic bars. I tried alum bars, odi and regular round ergons but but couldn't hold on the bars after 30 mins, alum bars made it a lot worse for me. It might be worth a try but I've been taking Glucosamine & Chondroitin, bromelain and turmeric for the past couple months and it seems to be slowly helping, not a huge amount but enough to notice.
 

w_b

Well-Known Member
Doubtful bar material will make much difference. Similar to rotating levers, consider that bar shape and riding position affect comfort. Riser bars or different sweep, spacers under stem (or flat bars / slam stem deps. on where you at) or even lower/ raise seat or move seat back/ forward can make a big difference. Also, consciously avoiding “death grip” while riding as was mentioned, if you find yourself hanging on hard while riding.
 

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
I would assume a lighter XC style carbon bar would have better dampening properties than a comparable alloy bar. I mean it only makes sense since that’s the case with forks and seat posts. Am I crazy?

I’ve tried the Ergon GS and am currently testing the GE series, which seem to make it worse. I’ll try rotating my levers.

Someone mentioned a suspension type grip system? I forgot what they’re called but the grips have some float to them. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
 

BPaze

Well-Known Member
I would assume a lighter XC style carbon bar would have better dampening properties than a comparable alloy bar. I mean it only makes sense since that’s the case with forks and seat posts. Am I crazy?

I’ve tried the Ergon GS and am currently testing the GE series, which seem to make it worse. I’ll try rotating my levers.

Someone mentioned a suspension type grip system? I forgot what they’re called but the grips have some float to them. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
https://revgrips.com/

Seem interesting
 

Jmann

Never gonna let you down.
As others have said, silicone grips like ESI are great for dampening. I think the bars themselves are a small part of the equation. Body positioning and bike fit is important too. I tend to ride with a lot of saddle to bar drop, so I do it to myself. If you can get some of the weight off your hands it could help, along with core work.

They’re so expensive so no one rides them, but I wonder how Thompson ti bars feel.
 
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one piece crank

Well-Known Member
i get numb if i let the bars get into the palms, rather than just wrapping my fingers.
the brake rotation has worked wonders for my handling too.

After years of wrenching and hard riding, I've avoided any on-trail discomfort by simply filling the center void in my palm. My Trials bike has these awesome, old-school, center-swelled grips that fill the center void in your palm, but there is nothing like them in the market. My workaround to typical flat MTB grips is to slide my hands outward off the grip, so the end of the bar is almost centered in my palm. I've been doing this without thinking for decades and is the perfect position (for me) when grinding away miles. Naturally, my hands revert inwards to a brake cover positon for tough sections, but for general riding they slide right back to a half-grip. My ghost-bar-end-work-around is to point my fingers outward, allowing the grip to fill the entire center of my palm, and this is a great way to refresh the hands anytime I'm sitting and spinning for a while.

I don't get the rotate the levers up attitude, this only creates problems for me. My wrists like my hands to be inline with my forearm, not raked back (except for the ghost-bar-end hold above). Crazy...
 
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a.s.

Mr. Chainring
I don't get the rotate the levers up attitude, this only creates problems for me. My wrists like my hands to be inline with my forearm, not raked back (except for the ghost-bar-end hold above). Crazy...

Was thinking the same thing. At this point I'll give anything a try.

Anyone try the Revgrips? I've heard good things from the shop owner at Tenafly. $90 is steep for grips but that's about what I'd pay for new bars.
 

Ryan.P

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Was thinking the same thing. At this point I'll give anything a try.

Anyone try the Revgrips? I've heard good things from the shop owner at Tenafly. $90 is steep for grips but that's about what I'd pay for new bars.
It may not make sense but it's free and takes 5 min tops to try it . After adopting this style of lever position I could ride mt creek all day without gloves and thin grips no pain no blisters it made that much difference
 

pkovo

Well-Known Member
I've been battling a wrist injury for about 6 months and have been messing around with my handlebar/grip/lever setup quite a bit to get some relief. Historically I run aluminum bars with little backsweep, but I threw an XC-ish set of carbon bar with a lot of backsweep on one bike, and they seem to help. Not sure if its the backsweep, or the fact that they are carbon. I also found the big Ergons (GP1 I think) seem to help. I have Ergon GA3s on another bike and they don't help at all....too skinny and hard.

The thing that has probably helped me the most is an EVS wrist brace. It's a pretty basic inexpensive brace, but for me it offers good mix of support/flexibility. Looks like the one below. I've even been wearing it when doing yard work and stuff. It minimizes the soreness I can get for days after a ride. There are a few similarly designed braces by other manufacturers out there as well. There's one from Troy Lee that looked a little bit more substantial.

1555684794135.png


I have also had no choice but to tone back the bunny hops, log/rock overs and general trail debauchery that makes riding fun.....which is a real bummer.

I have a suspected TFCC tear, so your situation may be different, but the brace is pretty inexpensive, so not much of an investment to try.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Ergon grips have helped with this issue for me, I really like the GA2's.

That being said, the GE1's did not help. One thing about the ergons it that it seems minor changes in the grip position make a big difference.
 
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