swifferman

Exactly as the title says. My current bike has me putting too much pressure on my wrists/hands. What would I need to change to lessen the pressure and put more of the weight on seat?

Thanks!

LowCel 

Shorter stem or more rise. That should allow you to set up a little more. You can also try tilting you seat back a little. Also as crazy as it sounds work on strengthening up your core. If you do this your abs and lower back will help keep some of the weight off of your hands (forget this if you already have abs of steel).

gwhunt23

Raise your bars if you can. If you stem is angled down, flip it up. If it is up already, get a bigger angle. Play around with lengths too.

Go by your LBS and try out a few stems. See what ya like.

zx108

try to lighten up your grip on the bars. mybe change the pos. of your hands on the bars. mybe try some different settings on the fork. um do you lean over the bars alot when you ride, that might be it

cooker

Moving your seat back can possibly take your weight off your hands, by placing your butt behind your feet to counterbalance your forward leaning torso (like a diver crouching on the diving board ready to spring), but you might need to get a shorter stem to avoid having to reach too far forward.
RGC

wagathon

Why do you think that? Are you having some wrist pain? Both wrists? How do you ride--hands on the bars behind the brakes or in the drops, on on the top bar, etc.

Depending on what all is going on, you may need a wrist band to help you keep your wrists from bending and/or maybe you need to start riding with your thumbs forward by placing your grip behind or on the brake hoods or on the drops (which is something you might not be able to do, depending on your bike setup, e.g., straight bars, seat too high to enable you to use the drops, or top bar/stem too long to make riding on top of the bar behind the brakes comfortable, etc.). Good luck!

Ricardo

A picture of your bike might help. Here are the options: raised handlebars, ergonomic grips, moving your seat back or forth, tilting it down, changing your stem or just getting good biking gloves.

Ricardo

zx108

biking gloves are a must for me. i feel naked without them.

Drunken Chicken

Same here, whether I'm off for half an hour of urban or an epic 60km trail ride, I'll always take my gloves.

Raiyn

You could also try a riser bar with a touch more rise to it.
Also check the position of the bar you have.
Sometimes the riser bar's sweep will actually point the outside of the bar downward if the bar isn't installed correctly. Even being off by a degree or two can cause an issue. I recently corrected this situation on a customer's bike and the individual reported back that it felt a ton better.
Sometimes the easiest fix is the correct one

swifferman

I've got an MTB with risers. I sometimes wear gloves, but not for road rides. It is a Kona Fire Mountain '04.

I do kind of rest on the handlebars when I ride. It makes it difficult to ride no hands as I have to shift quite a bit back on to my seat. I'm probably going to try angling my saddle.

I'm asking because I can feel a lot of pressure on my wrists. Now, it doesn't hurt but I went on a 3 hour ride on a pretty rough trail about 7 months ago and my left wrist clicks when I push it down now

I guess gloves would be a good solution for starters and angling the seat. If those don't work I'lll probably have to look at Risers or stems I guess. Which would be better?

Everything seems to be spot on with my bike in terms of stock position.

Thanks

Killer B

Maybe you should consider changing your diet....

If that's outta the question, try lowering the seat,
or raising the bar.... It's not Rocket Science, ya know....

rmwun54

What is the relationship of your seat height to your handlebar height. If the seat height is higher by 2 inches or more then raise the stem height by an inch or two.

MichaelW

The angle your wrist makes when you grip the bar is important. If you ride with a bent wrist, you will concentrate stress there and it will hurt. If you keep your wrist fairly straight (like a martial arts punch), you may find less of a problem. Riser bars may help change your wrist angle to something more comfortable.

iamthetas

when you press on the brakes do your wrists stay straight or are they bent? if they are bent change the angle of the levers to make them straight. changing a stem height or length will affect the way the bike climbs IMO so that should be (again IMO) a last resort. concentrate on your hand position as well as how much tension you put when just riding. I used to do the Vulcan death grip when riding and had to change my habits when all else failed