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Busted hand with straight bars doesn't work anymore... sweep bar recommendations?

8K views 32 replies 21 participants last post by  mtnbiker72 
#1 · (Edited)
I busted my hand last year on a dirt-biking (motorcycle) trip in a bad fall in Moab, and it never healed right. Get a lot of pain in my right hand riding due to the fact that I can't completely close my fingers over the bar. With my new busted-hand ergonomics, I need a sweep bar, I think. I tried ERGO grips and it wasn't quite enough.

The on-one Mary seems to get a lot of good press, but to be honest, I think it looks pretty funky. and I wondered how much control is reduced in technical riding situations with those bars?

For perspective, I'm a Clyde, 6'6" 220 on a 23" 29'er HT fully geared bike.

Looking for recommendations on bars with at least 30mm rise and any sweep between a straight bar and the Mary.

If you have some for sale, PM me too. Thanks all.
 
#6 ·
I know you said atleast 30mm rise, but I have a set of Salsa Pro-Moto carbons with a 17deg backsweep. They are flatbars but with an insane amount of backsweep. I can't use them because they tighten the cockpit up too much and I already a bit of money into a stem.

Average riser bars come with a 5-9deg backsweep. The backsweep on these are huge. I don't have pictures of them, but I will sell cheap. I only rode them once for 30min, no scratches or gouges. They weigh about 140g and are 660mm 31.8 clamp
http://salsacycles.com/components/pro_moto_carbon_flat/

THIS IS FOR HOLLYWOOD33
CHRIS, YOU RIDE A TALLBOY NOW!!! STOP GLAM POSTING A VOODOO ON HERE :p
 
#7 ·
Many will come here and say they love their alternative bars but I am not a fan having tried them exhaustively and believe they contribute to more hand issues than solve.

That said, OP...why don't you go into a bit more detail what is wrong with your hand.

What matters for you to ride? To take weight off your hand. As 6'6" a 23" 29er will not have a long steerer relative to your leg length. What you want to do it get your bars up higher to take weight off of them. This applies to many that ride in fact and I am tallish and and older rider and a higher bar is much friendlier to my hands. Many go to alt bars because they find them more comfortable. This maybe because they are less stretched out as backsweep will generally shorter the cockpit.
So...short of a custom cut steerer with say a spacer stack of 60mm or so...I recommend:
A. Riser carbon fiber bar...Easton makes a good one for 2011...40mm of rise EC-70 685mm wide...nice width but not super wide.
B. Riser stem...on the order of 17 deg or so. Get you bars even to just above your seat height.

C. Ergon grips. Will repeat that. Ergon grips.

Riding a bike is not good if the bike setup doesn't promote good ergos and health.

All the best with your hand recovery. Personally I would see a specialist if I were you as your hands are critical to almost everything you do in life....cycling just being the icing...and I have fought and somewhat beaten hand injuries most self induced due to not understanding proper bike fit. One of the great ironies in sport is most that play learn about proper mechanics after they injure themselves.
Cheers.
 
#8 ·
I agree with Dirtrider7. Though I am only 5'9", I am not into the high seatpost, negative rise stem w/ flatbars. They can keep that.

For correcting the problem, I reiterate Dirtrider's recommendation for Ergons, they alleviate a lot of strain on the hand that causes fatigue. So I would not recommend my Salsa bars because you may have problems mounting Ergons on them.

I run my bars level with my seatpost. I use a 12deg. stem and low rise bars. Easton bars can come 685 low/high rise and a 8or9 deg. sweep.
 
#9 ·
dirtrider7 said:
Many will come here and say they love their alternative bars but I am not a fan having tried them exhaustively and believe they contribute to more hand issues than solve.

That said, OP...why don't you go into a bit more detail what is wrong with your hand.

What matters for you to ride? To take weight off your hand. As 6'6" a 23" 29er will not have a long steerer relative to your leg length. What you want to do it get your bars up higher to take weight off of them. This applies to many that ride in fact and I am tallish and and older rider and a higher bar is much friendlier to my hands. Many go to alt bars because they find them more comfortable. This maybe because they are less stretched out as backsweep will generally shorter the cockpit.
So...short of a custom cut steerer with say a spacer stack of 60mm or so...I recommend:
A. Riser carbon fiber bar...Easton makes a good one for 2011...40mm of rise EC-70 685mm wide...nice width but not super wide.
B. Riser stem...on the order of 17 deg or so. Get you bars even to just above your seat height.

C. Ergon grips. Will repeat that. Ergon grips.

Riding a bike is not good if the bike setup doesn't promote good ergos and health.

All the best with your hand recovery. Personally I would see a specialist if I were you as your hands are critical to almost everything you do in life....cycling just being the icing...and I have fought and somewhat beaten hand injuries most self induced due to not understanding proper bike fit. One of the great ironies in sport is most that play learn about proper mechanics after they injure themselves.
Cheers.
As has been stated in previous threads by many riders who have actually spent significant time riding all types of bars (which you clearly have not since you continue to spew the same post), your information is based solely on your misinformed opinion. Properly set up, alt bars WILL NOT shorten the cockpit:nono:
 
#10 ·
my 2 cents

I went through a lot of bars to alleviate pain in two areas : my hand and my neck.

I had an evulsion fracture of my right hand and it still occasionally hurts to this day. I also ruptured a disc in my neck.

I used to run mostly minimal sweep bars but due to pain started experimenting. I settled on the Mary but with some caveats. I ride with it inverted and the angle (downward) is critical. It took a good bit of experimenting to find the "just right" postion but now I can set up my bike quickly since I know the measurements. In fact, I just built up a new HT yesterday and got it dead on as verified by a ride today.

I no longer have hand pain and I can't imagine running anything else. YMMV of course ;) but you need to take the time to really try multiple angles, reach etc.

Good luck!
 
#11 ·
I hope you have seen a hand surgeon. There are quite a few funky injuries that can occur in the hand and wrist. I had a TFCC tear which took over a year to heal. Weight training and using a Carnegie carbon bar on my rigid helped, although I should have tried PT. I use a 12 degree Syncros carbon bar on my FS. I didn't like the Carnegie so much on my FS, although I only used it for a couple of rides. I don't necessarily agree with dirtrider 7. The human animal varies widely. One physical therapist I ride with loves alt bars. Another physical therapist and a orthopedist that I ride with use standard bars.
 
#12 ·
I broke my wrist really bad two years ago (ti plate with screws). I pretty much had to go to a alt bar or the bend on my wrist was too much and caused a lot of pain. My wrist has gotten stronger over time but I still ride my inverted mary on my SS and a dirt drop on my fisty.

When I do ride a flat bar (winter beater) I use Ergon grips which help greatly on wrist pressure.
 
#13 ·
mtnbiker72 said:
As has been stated in previous threads by many riders who have actually spent significant time riding all types of bars (which you clearly have not since you continue to spew the same post), your information is based solely on your misinformed opinion. Properly set up, alt bars WILL NOT shorten the cockpit:nono:
God I hate responding to blowhards like you...or defending myself because you are too dumb to even make a point to.
Below are two out of about 6 different alt bars I have tried on my bikes. I am a certified handlebar junkie so you couldn't be more wrong which is no surprise. I have also owned a Jones, Titec and both Fubar sweeps in addition to a Clarence bar which is a Mary clone including several Rivendell bars including the Albatross which is even a fuller sweep than a Mary bar.
I also own road bikes and motorcycles and constantly am changing handlebars on all of them...roadbike right now in fact...seeking the holy grail of fit. Ergos is my thing and apparently not yours.
Quit projecting your ignorance.

OP...increase the height of your bars to make your torso more upright which will put more weight on your sitbones and less on your hands until you work through your injury.
 

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#15 · (Edited)
Hey 2tallrid3r,
I'm in a similar boat. I'm 6' 6" and around 225lbs. I've dealt with a fair amount of hand numbness in the past and from my experience dirtrider7's advice is the best solution... I've had the best results from the combination of raising the handlebar height and adding Ergon grips.

In my opinion... and maybe you agree, being a fellow tall guy... most companies don't make the front ends on their XL sized frames (or the steerers on suspension forks) long enough to get the handlebars to a comfortable height. Especially if you want the handlebars about the same height as the saddle.

While I think a swept bar might help, from my experience adjusting bike fit (handlebar height) and grips will have more impact. Personally I never liked the Origin-8 Space Bars on our twisty singletrack... too much sweep for my tastes. I think 15-17 degrees is about right for me off-road.

If I were you I'd try Ergon grips (not sure if the ergo grips you tried earlier were Ergon brand or not) and a taller stem and/or higher rise bars. If that doesn't work, try adding an alt bar.

That said, I have a Titec J-Bar on a bike that I really like - I like to put my hand in the crook right where the grip section meets the center section (does that make sense?). I run Ergon grips on the J-bars. That bike sees mostly road/gravel/smooth dirt, not rough mtb trails.

I also recently broke my hand... last year I fractured my 5th metacarpal (the bone between the little finger and the wrist). Surgery went well, but I still have some pain and stiffness, so this season will start out with a bit of an experiment based on what helped my hand issues prior to breaking it. Here's the bike I putting together for the local mtb trails... On-One Fleegle bars (15 degree sweep), tall front end, and Ergon grips:


I'm looking forward to giving it a try once the trails dry out.
 
#21 · (Edited)
FTMN said:
Hey 2tallrid3r,
I'm in a similar boat. I'm 6' 6" and around 225lbs. I've dealt with a fair amount of hand numbness in the past and from my experience dirtrider7's advice is the best solution... I've had the best results from the combination of raising the handlebar height and adding Ergon grips.

In my opinion... and maybe you agree, being a fellow tall guy... most companies don't make the front ends on their XL sized frames (or the steerers on suspension forks) long enough to get the handlebars to a comfortable height. Especially if you want the handlebars about the same height as the saddle.

While I think a swept bar might help, from my experience adjusting bike fit (handlebar height) and grips will have more impact. Personally I never liked the Origin-8 Space Bars on our twisty singletrack... too much sweep for my tastes. I think 15-17 degrees is about right for me off-road.

If I were you I'd try Ergon grips (not sure if the ergo grips you tried earlier were Ergon brand or not) and a taller stem and/or higher rise bars. If that doesn't work, try adding an alt bar.

That said, I have a Titec J-Bar on a bike that I really like - I like to put my hand in the crook right where the grip section meets the center section (does that make sense?). I run Ergon grips on the J-bars. That bike sees mostly road/gravel/smooth dirt, not rough mtb trails.

I also recently broke my hand... last year I fractured my 5th metacarpal (the bone between the little finger and the wrist). Surgery went well, but I still have some pain and stiffness, so this season will start out with a bit of an experiment based on what helped my hand issues prior to breaking it. Here's the bike I putting together for the local mtb trails... On-One Fleegle bars (15 degree sweep), tall front end, and Ergon grips:


I'm looking forward to giving it a try once the trails dry out.
Really tall guys like you and the OP have more of a fit challenge the rest of us to be sure. Bike mfrs don't sell a lot of bikes to your dem so they don't make a lot to suit. Short guys that ride 29ers have the opposite issue btw, they can't get their bars low enough with the big front wheel even with a short steerer.
Thanks for your comments. Looking at your bike which I presume is a 29er or hybrid derivative...you clearly have a very long steerer...eyeballing say 80mm of stack which incidentally is probably the outer margin for an aluminum steerer...perhaps yours is steel and that length stack would be prohibitive with carbon of course because of its relatively lower fracture resistance. Most 23" or XL 29er's have a head tube almost half the length of yours shown so you made a prudent frame selection or that frame is custom. You still have room to play...could also use a higher rise stem and/or bars with greater rise. I notice you ride rigid and while I understand the allure of rigid, clearly more taxing on the hands. A good Fox or Reba shock that you can lock out for smooth riding is a very good thing if you have sensitive hands.
All the best with your recovery and believe you are on the right path with your bike setup...you can still get the bars up higher which I believe you may find even more comfortable. Also...having bars even with the saddle isn't just an average mtb position.
The great Lance Armstrong who is used to a lot of drop because of his world class road bike success rides with his mtb race bike bars about level with the saddle.
The bike he won Leadville on below:
Cheers.
 

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#24 ·
dirtrider7 said:
Many will come here and say they love their alternative bars but I am not a fan having tried them exhaustively and believe they contribute to more hand issues than solve.

That said, OP...why don't you go into a bit more detail what is wrong with your hand.

What matters for you to ride? To take weight off your hand. As 6'6" a 23" 29er will not have a long steerer relative to your leg length. What you want to do it get your bars up higher to take weight off of them. This applies to many that ride in fact and I am tallish and and older rider and a higher bar is much friendlier to my hands. Many go to alt bars because they find them more comfortable. This maybe because they are less stretched out as backsweep will generally shorter the cockpit.
So...short of a custom cut steerer with say a spacer stack of 60mm or so...I recommend:
A. Riser carbon fiber bar...Easton makes a good one for 2011...40mm of rise EC-70 685mm wide...nice width but not super wide.
B. Riser stem...on the order of 17 deg or so. Get you bars even to just above your seat height.

C. Ergon grips. Will repeat that. Ergon grips.

Riding a bike is not good if the bike setup doesn't promote good ergos and health.

All the best with your hand recovery. Personally I would see a specialist if I were you as your hands are critical to almost everything you do in life....cycling just being the icing...and I have fought and somewhat beaten hand injuries most self induced due to not understanding proper bike fit. One of the great ironies in sport is most that play learn about proper mechanics after they injure themselves.
Cheers.
I was having a real problem with hand/wrist pain. Just had my first ride with Ergons yesterday and they helped the problem significantly. I've got huge mitts (9 1/4" spread) but went with the small Ergons as the large are really bulky.
 
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