spanky4x4

went on a short overnighter mon. was to be longer but impending weather shortened it. I only rode about 100 miles round trip. no biggie really. however I had and am having real pain in my hands. i have a history of carpel tunnel and tendon issues. I have straight riser bars,and ride in a very upright position to take as much weight off my hands as possable.I know they will weigh a little more,be less efficiant,etc. but if they increase the comfort level,it might be well worth it. my bike is a 88 cannondale mtn bike with tange steel forks. I think it rides quite nice but my hands seem to disagree.I also have a bob trailer ,so a rack isnt really a big issue.

does anyone use a suspension fork for this reason? I see alot of newer mtb with them used for touring, but assume that they came new that way and were never changed to rigid. or am I a big baby whiner like my wife says?

stokell

I very much identify with your problem. I originally thought I was getting the 'pins and needles' because of my aluminum frame. Turns out it was the handlebars. I now have drops and there must be a least eight different comfortable positions for your hands, and when you've got a killer headwind the bottom part is good too!

tvphobic

I had serious hand problems- numbness, pains, lack of mobility, for two years commuting with a Trek hybrid. All the symptoms 'mysteriously' went away just after I started commuting with a drop-bar bicycle. No shock absorber. Good luck.

spanky4x4

I have tried drop bars on my hybrid,and like them. although I wish they were a bit wider. but until I lose a little more weight,my knees hit my belly. not literally but upright is more comfortable in that respect. I find I only use the hoods and the flats on the drop bars due to this(or lack of experiance). my flat bar with the long,angled bar ends give me 4 differant positions,and I try to move frequently. I keep thinking of getting a nitto technomic stem and dream bars from rivendell,but have put it off until now. normally I ride 15 to 20 miles at a time (or less) and I was thinking it was mostly the longer distance that was the problem. I have seen quite a few post on this subject,and it seems this might be one too.... straight bars or drops?

sandlapper

In 1998 I had serious motorcylce accident and had to quit riding my bicycle then. I had broken my shoulder in three places plus seven ribs all on my left side I was never able to ride a bicycle again for 5 years after this. I finallly went back to my doctor who orginally treated me for all my broken bones and complained to him about how much my shoulder hurt since the accident. He had a MRI done on me and found that I had a torn rotorcuff and severe infection in my shoulder cause by the accident. Had surgery on my shoulder to repair my rotor cuff and scraped out all the infections. Last April I tried to ride my bicycle once again and found that I no longer had the pain that I had before trying ride my bicycle. It been almost a year now I have ridden a little over 4000 miles and my shoulder does not bother much now.

Well to get to the point maybe a good doctor is what you need to get that shoulder fixed. My shoulder used to ache all the time like giant toothache and haven't had that since the surgery. I did have to undergo about three months of therapy to get back the use of my shoulder that I had lost because of the torn rotor cuff.
The surgery was a piece of cake and did not cause me any problems. I still have my motorcycle but I ride my bicycle a lot more than I do it.