After seeing the post about sore wrists, I thought I would ask the collective intelligence if there were any solutions out there for numbness.
My riding began in 2020 when I bought a Borealis Crestone full carbon fat tire bike, so I am early on my experience, although riding almost daily at lunch I have over 6,000 miles on my Strava.
My wife has a Jones bar on her fat tire bike as she likes to be more upright.
Any suggestions to lessening the numbness?
Some think I have some carpal tunnel issues, but it appears to be a bit exacerbated by riding, and if I take a few days off it diminishes. Wondering if an extension on my existing carbon Borealis handlebars would affect any change or if there are other suggestions for a solution.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
by mightareadit
14 Comments
Looking into getting a different handle bar could help. I found the straight bars my bike came with gave me a lot of wrist pain so getting bars that were slightly more angled helped a lot!
Switch out the grips. ESI super chunkies . The foam rubber dampens the vibrations much better.
You may want to check out a Jones H-Bar and different grips.
Not fat bike specific, but even after getting a true professional bike fitting, I opted to add a shockstop stem and that massively helped my wrists/hands.
[https://redshiftsports.com/collections/suspension-stems](https://redshiftsports.com/collections/suspension-stems)
There are so many things you can do, but the easiest would be getting bar ends or inner bar ends. Just changing your hand position in a while by using those can help relieve the constant pressure in the same spots.
I personally like Spirgrips because they are easy to take on and off without moving your grips, but it looks like you have some clamp on Ergon grips so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Ergon also makes grips with integrated bar ends if you like the ones you have.
I have so many bars, grips, and bar ends, and I still haven’t found a setup I like 100% all the time forever and ever đ
Thanks for all the great suggestions! So far, the r/fatbike group has been fun and informative!
Make sure you’re not forced to have too much weight on your hands. When riding the bike in normal position most of the weight should be on the seat. Your arms should create a roughly 90 degree angle to your torso. Change your stem or move your seat back or forward to achieve this.
Over extending will strain your elbows and shoulders. Under extending will bunch you up.
Also look on your hands to see where the pressure sits. If you’re in the heals of your hand then the distance between your seat nose and handle bar is too short. Vice versa if the pressure is closer to your fingers. It should sit in the middle of your hand.
A good bike shop with a TRAINED bike fitter will help a lot.
I did a âcorner barâ, however if you get a bar that comes back youâll need to get a longer stem.
https://preview.redd.it/8hiy8t1hx3le1.jpeg?width=3600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17f3758e14cacba6432a5ea7fa897bd06d81df0e
I have ulnar nerve damage and carpal tunnel issues. I swapped the carbon bars for some bars with more rise and sweep, and I prefer ergonomic grips like Ergon grips. I might give the big foam grips a try again, but found fat grips hurt my nerves. Sadly not all things work for all people, so it will probably be a lot of trial and error.
Protect your ulnar nerve! You need padded gloves. [These](https://www.performancebike.com/specialized-mens-body-geometry-dualgel-gloves-black-l-67019-1004/p895745?v=861037) are specifically made to have gaps where there are important veins in your hand so the padding rests on either side and doesnât put pressure on them, so it helps with the numbness.
Ergon grips
Youâve got to be way off balance if youâre getting pressure on your hands with the bars set up higher than the saddle.
I would look at saddle position first. You should be able to take your hands off the bars without feeling like youâre falling forward. If you really think you have the saddle height right then you want to move the saddle back slowly till you feel yourself not falling forward.
Once that is done then you look at the bars. Perversely sometimes your body wants the bars lower and if your bars are high youâll bend forward and put more weight on the bars than you would with lower bars.
Finally perhaps look at the sweep on your bars. It tends to need to be matched with the rest of your bikes fit.
I’m a fat bike noob, just got my fat bike last week, and I switched out the stock handlebars with Ritchey Kyote bars. I’m still not sure if they will be best for me, but for $40 they are a good option to try; they add 30mm of rise and more backsweep for ergonomics. That said, handlebars are like saddles, different stuff works for everyone and we all have strong opinions.
ESI chunky grips and a carbon bar. THis is a must setup for all my bikes. My current go to bar is a salsa rustler since it has a slight back sweep. I deal with a MS like disease so hand fatigue is regular for me. But with this combo I rarely experience it.