Advocacy & Safety - Wrist hurts while riding

Just bought a used bike and rode it for maybe a good 5 minutes or so. While riding, I noticed my right wrist starting feeling uncomfortable.

I'm using this type of bike and I'm about 6ft.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/nitrotwang/1-56.jpg

Raise your bars. You have a threaded headset, so it's easy. Loosen the bold going town the stem, and raise them.

Raise your bars. You have a threaded headset, so it's easy. Loosen the bold going town the stem, and raise them.

This link (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html) might be a little clearer. You want the first section: "traditional quill stems".

Try a different hand postion, everyone is different, but many people get pains from flat bars like these, to get different postion, more comfort try barends, especially

bar ends like the cane creek ergo

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BE409A10-Cane+Creek+Ergo+Control+2+Bar+Ends.aspx

or
the ergon

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BE408A00-Ergon+Gc2+Race+Grips+With+Alloy+Bar+Ends.aspx

Saddle position could also be the problem, if you have your saddle too far forward you might be putting to much weight forward on your handlebars.

The prior advice posted here is good. Reducing the weight on your hands and changing hand positions helps.

Additional ideas:

- Check the brake lever angles to make sure you aren't twisting your hand backward. You should be able to reach them with your fingers from a relaxed hand position. Rotate the bars (probably clockwise from the photo perspective) if needed.

- If you haven't yet, try wearing padded cycling gloves. They absorb a lot of shock.

Are you riding off-road? If so and all of the above advice doesn't help, try test riding an appropriately sized and adjusted bike with a front shock and see if that helps.

I relaxed my elbows (I was riding to "stiff") and threw away my synthetic rubber grips for a set of Portland Design Works, Dapper Dan "Ergo" grips.
Problem solved.
http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=146_229&products_id=7731&zenid=fdc5c19a7663973fcef52d629619acee
http://www.ridepdw.com/goods/grips/dapper-dan-ergo-grips

+1 on the suggestions above.

Most riders also find that after a few hundred or thousand miles their bodies are much happier.

I developed this problem when I got my flat-bar road bike. My solution was to switch to bullhorn bars, to give me more hand positions. Solved the problem.

Bar-ends (as suggested above) might do the same for you, as well, though I've never used them myself.

All of these are good suggestions. In ergonomics, you want to maintain a "neutral wrist position." This means that you don't want the hand either flexed or extended (up or down). These kinds of bars tend to allow the wrist to have a very large bend, and this is the actual problem. Bar ends, different types of grips which allow a neutral wrist position, and bars such as the "mustache" bar will all help. And, of course, you could also go back to the drop handle bars. I've found that drops, which are placed above the saddle, are very comfortable and the brake hoods can be adjusted to allow a completely neutral wrist position. This is the position where you can place a ruler on the top of the arm and it touches the skin all the way to the knuckles.

John

I wouldn't have thought of this as an Advocacy and Safety issue. What type of cycling do you usually do? Maybe you should post this in that category.

However you might benefit by reading this:
http://www.cptips.com/handsyn.htm

I wouldn't have thought of this as an Advocacy and Safety issue. What type of cycling do you usually do? Maybe you should post this in that category.

However you might benefit by reading this:
http://www.cptips.com/handsyn.htm
This is a good point.
I will back-up my info by saying I am a Hybrid Commuting/Touring rider (flat bars).