# Placing way too much pressure on hands what can I do?



## Ice Cold (Aug 20, 2008)

Got a new Hybrid bike ride is fine but thanks to reading this board I know I am doing something wrong weather its my posture or the bike frame size. 

After like 1 mile my hands and wrist hurt heck Immediately I can feel I am putting too much pressure on my hands. 

what can I do to ride better and avoid so much pressure on my hands. 


(Note)

this is my first Hybrid, the riding position is much more upright almost sitting up right, not use too it looks awkward. Def note leaned forward like on a MTB. I'm 5'(' got a 15.8 inch frame) maybe a tad small. 

gonna look into a longer stem with no rise.


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## alexrex20 (Dec 20, 2005)

longer stem, move seat rearward, even a setback seatpost maybe. those may all help.

i think more importantly you need to change how you hold the bar. do you have your fingers hovering over the brake levers as you ride? you can adjust the brake levers and shifters so that they're not putting your wrist at an awkward angle to operate them.

you could also try different grips with more padding and/or thicker in general or ergonomically shaped, wearing padded gloves, or even a differently shaped handlebar with more sweep.


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## mitzikatzi (Sep 9, 2008)

New bike? Can you go back to the shop for advice.

Without "seeing" you on the bike it would just be guessing.

Is the seat level? (if not you can side forward). Move the seat back a little? just guessing

Ergon grips?


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## Ice Cold (Aug 20, 2008)

I am 5'9"

heres my bikes geometry Note I purchased the Small.

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/recreation-urban/recreation/quick-cx/2011-quick-cx-3

I'd say possibly small but overall evrything besides too much pressure on hands fit properly.

leg at full pedal strok leg is extended with slight bend in knee very slight. Arms and shoulders no cramped elbos extended.

I am gonna try lowering the seat I may be too high on it with weight on bars.

any other ideas would be welcome


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## beanbag (Nov 20, 2005)

Aside from the bike positioning advice others gave, you can try the Ergon grips or the Specialized BG contour grips (my favourite). Make sure your wrists are relatively straight and not bent.


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## Larry_K (Jul 10, 2010)

Ice Cold said:


> gonna look into a longer stem with no rise.


I would suspect that if you're putting too much weight on your hands currently it will just get worse if you move the bars further away and lower since you'll be leaning further forward. An easy (and free) way to show this to be true or false would be to flip your current stem around. Might not be as dramatic as a longer/less rise stem but it might let you know if it's a direction you want to go or not.

You mentioned that you're just about sitting upright, it sounds like the pain is likely from having your wrists bent too much. Like other posters mentioned, you need to make sure your brake lever isn't up too high.

Here's a good pic of how your hands should be positioned while riding:









Regarding the neck pain, since you're sitting upright I don't have any ideas. Usually if you're getting neck pain it's from leaning too far forward and having to hold your head up to look forward.

Larry


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## Ice Cold (Aug 20, 2008)

No neck pain here, it must be that my seats too high, and I must have lowered the stem too much by taking repositioning the spacers.


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## Larry_K (Jul 10, 2010)

Sorry about that, I took "heck" as a typo and thought you were saying wrist/neck pain for some reason, but I was also half asleep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Sheldon Brown has a brilliant web site including a brilliant article about cycling and pain.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html

Pain from an ill-fitting bike is sometimes counterintuitive to solve. For example, if I ride a bike that's too big, I get wrist, elbow and shoulder pain - that's kind of a no-brainer. Then I get back pain, and if I'm on the thing long enough, my flaky knee will flare up too. But if I ride a bike that's way too small, I actually get really similar symptoms. Sometimes when someone rides a bike that's too small, he'll put extra pressure on the handlebars because they're fighting the more natural riding position for his effort level at the time.

Anyway, moving the stem up and down in the spacer stack is easy and free, so it's a great place to start. The bike should really feel immediately better if you're headed in the right direction.


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## D-Avid (May 18, 2006)

When I ride on flats or climbing seated i usually put my thumbs ontop of the handlebar. This lets your arms and hands relax and relaxed is way better technique than tense.


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## donkeykong0 (Oct 2, 2010)

one episode of over the bars when you bury your front wheel and your problem will be solved, you'll never put much pressure on the bars again.


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## dcc1234 (Nov 5, 2008)

I switched to origin 8 space bars as per mtnbiker72's advice several months ago. Happy to report that hand pain is now gone due to this $30 upgrade.


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## Gabe3 (Mar 13, 2009)

tilt your seat back


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