Sore hands when braking on long descents
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Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby BugsBunny » Wed May 23, 2018 12:25 pm
Yesterday I did a climb here in Hong Kong thats 900m in elevation. Its a twisty mountain with an avg gradient of about 8%. I had really sore hands from the constant need to brake before each turn to wash off speed. Bear in mind I have rim brakes and carbon rims so I was also wary of not dragging the brakes. I was in the drops 90% of the time to maintain control.
Any one got tips on how to minimise the soreness?
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby kb » Wed May 23, 2018 1:08 pm
See if your levers have a reach adjust and make sure it’s set up optimally. Try to pull near the end of the lever too, for better, er, leverage . Make sure outers and inners are clean, have no sharp bends, ferrules all in place and ends finished neatly to minimise friction.BugsBunny wrote:Hi guys
Yesterday I did a climb here in Hong Kong thats 900m in elevation. Its a twisty mountain with an avg gradient of about 8%. I had really sore hands from the constant need to brake before each turn to wash off speed. Bear in mind I have rim brakes and carbon rims so I was also wary of not dragging the brakes. I was in the drops 90% of the time to maintain control.
Any one got tips on how to minimise the soreness?
Bugs
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby kb » Wed May 23, 2018 1:11 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby duncanm » Wed May 23, 2018 1:35 pm
stop and admire the view every now and then?BugsBunny wrote:Hi guys
Yesterday I did a climb here in Hong Kong thats 900m in elevation. Its a twisty mountain with an avg gradient of about 8%. I had really sore hands from the constant need to brake before each turn to wash off speed. Bear in mind I have rim brakes and carbon rims so I was also wary of not dragging the brakes. I was in the drops 90% of the time to maintain control.
Any one got tips on how to minimise the soreness?
Bugs
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby Cyclophiliac » Wed May 23, 2018 2:31 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby human909 » Wed May 23, 2018 2:40 pm
That is a pretty broad description. What part of you hands?BugsBunny wrote:I had really sore hands from the constant need to brake before each turn to wash off speed.
If it is grip strength then it would be your forearms that would be sore. If the soreness is in you hands it is more likely to be brake reach and general hand position.
That helps with braking performance won't affect the braking force required by the hands.kb wrote:Weight back can help a bit too, as long as you keep enough forward when steering
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby kb » Thu May 24, 2018 7:53 am
It feels like less weight/pressure on the hands. Quite noticeable ~15% and steeper but whether that matches reality I’ll leave to physicists . Also reduces tension due to raw fearhuman909 wrote:That is a pretty broad description. What part of you hands?BugsBunny wrote:I had really sore hands from the constant need to brake before each turn to wash off speed.
If it is grip strength then it would be your forearms that would be sore. If the soreness is in you hands it is more likely to be brake reach and general hand position.
That helps with braking performance won't affect the braking force required by the hands.kb wrote:Weight back can help a bit too, as long as you keep enough forward when steering
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby solmanic » Thu May 24, 2018 10:26 am
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby Lukeyboy » Thu May 24, 2018 11:56 am
Or learn how to descendsolmanic wrote:Two words - disc brakes.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby ball bearing » Thu May 24, 2018 12:24 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby P!N20 » Thu May 24, 2018 12:31 pm
solmanic wrote:Two words - disc brakes.
I was waiting for this. But seriously, the only way for Bugs to relieve the pain is a new bike?ball bearing wrote:Full finger gloves & disc brakes.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby ball bearing » Thu May 24, 2018 12:35 pm
Maybe. I do love my road discs on the hills. I ride the same hills on disc and rim braked bikes and the difference is huge. I'm buying disc road bikes from now on.P!N20 wrote:solmanic wrote:Two words - disc brakes.I was waiting for this. But seriously, the only way for Bugs to relieve the pain is a new bike?ball bearing wrote:Full finger gloves & disc brakes.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby Thoglette » Thu May 24, 2018 1:02 pm
P!N20 wrote:I was waiting for this.
Afterall, bike fit problems are best fixed by spending money on new stuff.
"People are worthy of respect, ideas are not." Peter Ellerton, UQ
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby g-boaf » Thu May 24, 2018 1:09 pm
I was also waiting. If I remember right, Bugs built up a very exotic bicycle already, getting another one would surely be out of the question.P!N20 wrote:solmanic wrote:Two words - disc brakes.I was waiting for this. But seriously, the only way for Bugs to relieve the pain is a new bike?ball bearing wrote:Full finger gloves & disc brakes.
I swapped over to SRAM RED (previously Shimano) and found the brake levers feel a lot different to use (lighter feel). But I've not used them yet on any steep descents needing braking for sharp corners. I was planning to go overseas later this year with that bike, but sort of not feeling very motivated at the moment to even keep riding.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby BugsBunny » Thu May 24, 2018 1:48 pm
Thanks for your inputs.
The part of the hand that feels sore is the meaty pad next to the thumb and to a lesser amount the muscle tension from hooking the thumb around the handle bars with my body weight over the front of the bike due to the steepness of the descent.
And yeah my bike has had a fair bit of mods done to it, so whilst I would love a new bike I'm trying to exhaust all options first.
The reach to the levers is a root cause I think.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby RonK » Thu May 24, 2018 3:14 pm
I have disc brakes but they didn't save me from hand pain while descending the Crown Range/Tobin's Track at Arrowtown.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby human909 » Thu May 24, 2018 3:54 pm
Yes. It really does sound like reach issue. Though handlebar contour/padding might have something to do with it. Essentially you have more weight on your hands while your tensing your opponens pollicis muscle of your thumb.BugsBunny wrote:The part of the hand that feels sore is the meaty pad next to the thumb and to a lesser amount the muscle tension from hooking the thumb around the handle bars with my body weight over the front of the bike due to the steepness of the descent.
The reach to the levers is a root cause I think.
Exhaust options?BugsBunny wrote:And yeah my bike has had a fair bit of mods done to it, so whilst I would love a new bike I'm trying to exhaust all options first.
(sorry bad joke)
I wouldn't take it as a given. And the descent you mentioned isn't that crazy steep or long.RonK wrote:If the hill is long enough and steep enough you are still likely to get sore hands.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby madmacca » Thu May 24, 2018 3:59 pm
Which side? I did Arrowtown to Wanaka, and the descent was pretty nice. But I could imagine all the hairpins from Wanaka to Arrowtown would be demanding on the brakes.RonK wrote:If the hill is long enough and steep enough you are still likely to get sore hands.
I have disc brakes but they didn't save me from hand pain while descending the Crown Range/Tobin's Track at Arrowtown.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby Cyclophiliac » Thu May 24, 2018 4:05 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby baabaa » Thu May 24, 2018 4:27 pm
What worked for me (with brifters) is to fit cross top levers as you are not stuck in one position and can move from drops to bar tops and back again. Some people just dont like them, but I guess more dislike bar end shifters as well? I will always go for better braking and shifting over looks and the old DA bar ends ( which in the best spinal tap talk, the new ones even go to 11... clicks) with cane creek levers seems to be more than enough for me.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby RonK » Thu May 24, 2018 6:14 pm
Yes, that would be the hard way up, easy way down. I was going the other way, in a strong cross wind so carefully down the first set of switchbacks, then a gravel road to Tobin's Track, which is steep, rough and crossed with numerous water bars, down to the Arrow River.madmacca wrote:Which side? I did Arrowtown to Wanaka, and the descent was pretty nice. But I could imagine all the hairpins from Wanaka to Arrowtown would be demanding on the brakes.RonK wrote:If the hill is long enough and steep enough you are still likely to get sore hands.
I have disc brakes but they didn't save me from hand pain while descending the Crown Range/Tobin's Track at Arrowtown.
Riding a loaded backpacking bike it required constant braking to keep to a safe speed. It was cold too which didn't help. Hands were in agony at the bottom.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby 10speedsemiracer » Thu May 24, 2018 6:28 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby Duck! » Thu May 24, 2018 6:38 pm
Three words - hydraulic disc brakes.solmanic wrote:Two words - disc brakes.
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby eeksll » Thu May 24, 2018 10:19 pm
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Re: Sore hands when braking on long descents
Postby AUbicycles » Fri May 25, 2018 7:42 am
As suggested - reach adjust. Depending on your brand, you may get some adjustment or may need a modification. I have a modification to some Shimano mechanical that bring my levers much closer and are simply more comfortable.
The second is the adjusting the cable-tension (typically with the dial on the cable at each brake) and set the clearance to max 2mm. Less is better and it simply means that the brakes grip sooner.
A small contraction of the brake pad clearance to the rims is that if you are exerting maximum pressure but the brake levers are still far away, this may be counter-productive sometimes so the opposite can be better with a bigger rim clearance, as you brake it takes more time to grip but then the levers are closer and it is more comfortable to press and hold.
For the clearance - it is relatively easy to test and see what works best.
The last thing is your braking behaviour- it should be short sharp breaking which is better for the rims (less heat build up) and better for your comfortable. Long braking and prolonged gripping / braking is not good practice.
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