[MBreinin]

I have been suffering weakness in my hands lately. This is a big concern for me, since my other hobby is guitar playing. I have pinned it down as a side effect of riding.

What would be best to cut down on the vibrations? Gel grips or gel gloves? Does anyone make a really good pair of Gel gloves? Preferably something heavily vented and heavily padded. I typically ride in either Dainese Hellracers or Pro-Grip SUMO gloves. Neither pair is vented much, so I have been thinking of picking up a pair of summer gloves anyway.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Mike

 

[sdmotard]

HUH...are you sure its a weakness in your hands or the aching hand muscles from holding on.

I ride and play the guitar...after a long ride my hands are tired...but are stronger from the work out.

ARM PUMP will leave your hands and wrists feeling sore, tired and achy...There are a couple things you can do...RELAX is one of them...try not to hold on so tight when you can ease up without crashing...there are excersizes that help the circulation after a ride. and rubber mounted bars with anti vibration ends help.

OR...you just ride like the wind..and play your guitar on the days you dont.

 

[ZXSIXR]

All the gel gloves I have found are puny little gel inserts that dont do anything than allow them to put on the package gel gloves. I have had a pair of Olympia short cuff Gel gloves for about 4 years now and they have held up pretty good seeing as I put about 10-18k a year on the bike but not with just those gloves. They come with a CF knuckle protector or without and are vented summer gloves. You can find them on ebay or a lot of bike stores for around $39-$59. Never wrecked in them so dunno how they will do in a crash. They are the most comfortable pair of gloves and about the only pair I will use on the SM bike, wish they had a gauntlet style pair to use while racing.

 

[Chefjoe]

I'm a Bassist and I've been feeling some tendonitis (tennis elbow)in my left arm after riding.... I think it's from yanking the bars too much to wheelie.
Sometimes it's pretty severe. Maybe adjust your bar positioning?

 

[MBreinin]

It is a weakness, not pain. I struggle to play bar chords and bend notes, especially high on the neck. It is most evident when my hand sees alot of angle. I have no force. I had worked through it and my hand strength was coming back, and then I took a 3 hour ride yesterday and I could barely play the guitar afterward or this morning. I have been playing for over 20 years, so it is really strange to not be able to play a bar chord on an electric guitar. We are not even talking an acoustic with high action, but an electric with light strings and low action.

Mike

 

[Tfunk]

What bike are you riding? I think SD hit it close on the head when he says relax on the grip, and arm pump will cause this. Also if we all maybe knew what type of bike you are riding we could help out with some type of anti-vibration set-up for your bike. There are ways to help with vibes, but it would help to know what we are trying to give advise on.

 

[hglenn55]

There is a fix. Your arms are not constantly training for 2-3 hours rides so they go into failure when you do. Either buy a 5-10 weight and do wrist curls while watching tv or the old standby a squeeze grip type exerciser. I doesn't sound like arm pump because when that happens "usually" the person can't close their hand properly. Playing the guitar uses a different or fewer muscles so it's not helping much on your riding strength. Dunno on that one

 

[MBreinin]

What bike are you riding? I think SD hit it close on the head when he says relax on the grip, and arm pump will cause this. Also if we all maybe knew what type of bike you are riding we could help out with some type of anti-vibration set-up for your bike. There are ways to help with vibes, but it would help to know what we are trying to give advise on.

Husky 450SMR.

It actually doesn't vibrate that badly. However, my hands were tingling for a solid hour after the ride yesterday. I also sit in front of, and use, a laptop all day.

Mike

 

[carlsoti]

Even though you've been playing for 20 years, dexterity excercises may be in order. Does the "weakness" you feel seem like the same as when you started playing guitar?

 

[jetcycles]

maybe i missed it above, but are your levers properly adjusted to a comfortable angle while riding? I don't know how many times i have seen guys with their clutch and brake levers at strange angles. . .

 

[MBreinin]

Even though you've been playing for 20 years, dexterity excercises may be in order. Does the "weakness" you feel seem like the same as when you started playing guitar?

I don't recall, honestly. It feels like I can't apply proper pressure when my hand is at an angle. When my hand is basically straight, it is not a problem. It feels like when I bend my wrist for the more extreme angles, all of the strength goes out of my hand. It is odd.

Mike

 

[carlsoti]

Make sure you're warming-up properly before you start playing. When I used to "shred", I always had to do a warm-up, or I'd cramp or just couldn't pull off the "tricks" I could when warmed up. I've since moved to a blusier style, and never warm up, though I've noticed I play much better at the end of a good woodshed, than I do when I first pick up the guitar. If I were you, I'd look into getting a comprehensive dexterity program, and see about doing it both before and after riding OR playing guitar. It should help with fatigue in the long run. Or you could go the cheap route, and do a compressed Steve Vai's 30 hour work-out. A lot of the initial stuff in that is merely finger and picking excercises.

 

[blkhalo996]

Sounds just might be applying a good bit of pressure to your ulnar nerve in your hand that causes the numbness sensation as your ride. Different gloves, grip, or positions of hand might be able to help out.


Here are somethings you might want to read on.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-guyons-canal-syndrome.htm

http://www.handsurgeon.com/guyon.html


Just two months ago, I had the symptons mentioned in the links above, but my wound up being,,,a slight case of cubital syndrom. The same nerve, ,,,,but mine is being irritated in the elbow region. Worse thing that bothered me was a weakness in hand hand. Mostly noticable with the thumb grip. One way you can tell if it might be the ulnar nerve, grip a piece of paper with your thumb along side your index. Don't use the tip of the thumb to grib with, use only the next part. And I don't know wtf you call that part. Just compare grips between you weak feeling hand and your normal feeling one.

 

[MBreinin]

Sounds just might be applying a good bit of pressure to your ulnar nerve in your hand that causes the numbness sensation as your ride. Different gloves, grip, or positions of hand might be able to help out.


Here are somethings you might want to read on.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-guyons-canal-syndrome.htm

http://www.handsurgeon.com/guyon.html


Just two months ago, I had the symptons mentioned in the links above, but my wound up being,,,a slight case of cubital syndrom. The same nerve, ,,,,but mine is being irritated in the elbow region. Worse thing that bothered me was a weakness in hand hand. Mostly noticable with the thumb grip. One way you can tell if it might be the ulnar nerve, grip a piece of paper with your thumb along side your index. Don't use the tip of the thumb to grib with, use only the next part. And I don't know wtf you call that part. Just compare grips between you weak feeling hand and your normal feeling one.

Yeah, there is a huge difference when doing this, the left hand is much weaker.

I will check the links. Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys.

Mike

 

[stinkbug]

Sounds like a few things could be happening. You're deathgripping the bars without knowing it, which is not uncommon. It took me a long time to stop holding on so tight, and it was a very conscious effort. Could also be that your bars are positioned or shaped wrong for you. Bars aren't that expensive, try out some with a different bend. Also vibration on my YZ was killin me so I put on a set of Oury mountain bike grips. They are thick and squishy and help a lot. They are kinda big in diameter, but i like em.

 

[The Shifty Jesus]

Go see a doctor. You might just be developing a repetitive motion disorder. I eventually had to learn to use a mouse with my left hand, ditch the clip-ons on my bikes that had them, and use a throttle rocker for long rides to end the shooting pains and 1 hour+ of post ride numb fingers in my right hand.

 

[Paper Tiger]

It's all about Oury Grips!

http://www.ourygrips.com/grips_menu.html

I've only been able to find the Road Grip around town. Only problem is that they are closed end. So you have to slice the end off. They seem to make open ended grips (Mountain Grips) but I haven't been able to find them.

The grips are amazing, supple yet resilient. They're made of natural rubber and are very sticky. I can't say enough about them. It was the best mod I ever did to my drz, and yes that includes the full pipe 3x3 and jet kit. It's like a whole 'nother bike.

 

[Nanotech9]

not only the levers, but look into a differend bar bend.... (looks like stinkbug mentioned this)

i dont like the stock KTM bend, but i LOVE a set of CR High Bends... little difference in the bend, BIG difference in the ride.

turned the clipons on my ZX10 out about 3 degrees, and reduced 30% of my hand and arm fatigue because of the better angle.

i'll agree with teh grips... skinny grips fatigue my hands, too big grips do as well... i like the medium thickness ones.


And to cure all the rest of hand fatigue on my ZX10 (just to make all you guys jealous) I installed electronic cruise control

 

[MBreinin]

not only the levers, but look into a differend bar bend....

i dont like the stock KTM bend, but i LOVE a set of CR High Bends... little difference in the bend, BIG difference in the ride.

turned the clipons on my ZX10 out about 3 degrees, and reduced 30% of my hand and arm fatigue because of the better angle.

I don't even know where to start with new bars. Mine are stock, I believe. My friend noticed that my bar end inserts had been removed. He said that would cause alot more vibration to make it into the grips. Any suggestions on where to get those doo-dads?

Mike

 

[missile]

I had a Suzuki Bandit and my hands used to tingle after an hour of riding. The previous owner had removed the bar ends and replaced them with lightweight carbon fibre items. The bars were vibrating with a very high frequency, causing pain in the hands and wrists. The solution was to get some original bar ends from Suzuki. They seemed very heavy, but acted like a damper on the bars, and stopped the vibration and the tingling ended. Not sure what bike you have, but if the bars are standard get some of the original spec endbars, they may not look as cool, but may help cure your problem.