I can't find a position where I will ride with no pain in my hands. I've removed neck and shoulder pain after switching to Rivendell bikes, but I can't get rid of the hand pain. Raising or lowering the bar doesn't seem to make a difference. If anything, it seems to me that raising it actually makes it worse. On both the AHH with Noodle bars and the Bombadil with Moustache bars, shortening the stem has made me feel the "spot" overall, as well as lowering the bars some. But the hand pain doesn't go away.
Today I raised the M-bar on the Bombadil as far as the brake cables would allow (raised it about 1.5 cm higher than I had them) and if anything, it seems that the hand pain was worse. Looking at my profile on window reflections while riding, it seems to me that I went from a 45-50 degree forward lean to a 50-55 degree forward lean when putting my hands on the braking position. When my hands are on the edges of the bar where the shifters are, I'm more upright but there is still a forward lean. It seems to me that as long as I have a forward lean of some sort, there is some amount of pressure on my hands and that causes them to hurt. My explanation for the slightly less hand pain when the bars are a bit lower (still higher than the saddle) is that the 45 degree forward lean allows me to engage more back muscles as well as use my legs more effectively, and that raising the bar reduces the work from my muscles and therefore my hands bear more of my weight. They also seem to hurt less when riding gloveless on the M-bars. Can anybody offer more insight into what I might try doing to deal with the pain in my hands? Thank you, René -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
