garagegirl

I went for a 35 mi ride today on my fixed. I usually take my geared bike (with drops) on longer rides, and use my fixed for city riding. I have flipped and chopped bars on it, which I love, but I've never really ridden long distances on them. I also had a new Brooks team pro s on it. Anyway- now MY WRISTS HURT LIKE HELL!!! I've never really had wrist pain when riding before. Is it my saddle, the bullhorns or both? I'm going to put the brooks back on my road bike tomorrow for a comparison test. Anybody else with similar wrist issues on bullhorns or Brooks saddles?

Klink

What do you have your bullhorns wrapped with? Longer rides and no cushioning can be painful.

Also fit. I imagine you know how you're supposed to be riding, but if you're overextended or your saddle's too high that might be it.

How many miles are in the Brooks anyway? Is it broken in? If not, it wouldn't hurt your wrists but would make your seatbones and lower back hurt.

marqueemoon

It could just be a general position/fit issue but I've found with my Brooks Swift the tilt angle is a huge deal and very hard to dial in. It was either tilted too far forward (forcing too much weight onto my hands) or when tilted back would be less than comfortable on the junk when riding in the drops (I'm male obviously).

35 miles really should be doable on bullhorns without pain as long as your fit is decent. Little things like chubbier tires, raising the stem slightly, changing the angle of the bars, and double taping the bars can make a big difference.

blu3d0g

tilt your horns up a few degrees, I was having the same problem for a while, then I tilted my bars up a little and it was all better.

onceinalifetime

sell your brooks saddle and put 40$ of it towards some real bullhorns.
flipped and chopped bullhorns=cheap fix/terrible garbage.
my 2 cents.

coelcanth

brooks tend to concentrate on hurting buttz...
but if you just recently put it on there's a chance you didn't set it up ideally... tilted too far forward perhaps so you're sliding weight onto your arms ??

probably it's the bars though... ideally your wrists would be pretty much straight when grabbin the bars.. not bent too much on any axis.. also, drops are nice for longer rides cause they give you more position options to choose from... bullhorns give you.. maybe 2?

garagegirl

It's probably a fit issue. I'll try moving the bars up and repositioning the saddle.

When you say my wrist should be straight, do you mean like if I made a sideways fist (say like I was going to punch someone in the gut)? That would mean my bars would angle up pretty considerably, right? Will legit bullhorns give me considerably better hand positioning? I was planning on getting a set, but wanted to try it out ghetto first.

The brooks is brand new, and the butt pain I can live with (it's annoying, but not hellish), but it is really hard to get it positioned right. On a saddle like a Selle I can tell immediately if it's tilted too far forward or back, but the Brooks felt right to me when I was riding it, except for the wrist pain.
Marqueemoon- have you tried any other brooks? I'm wondering if I should've gotten a B17 instead.

As far as bar tape etc.- I have them wrapped with spongy fake cork tape. I wear gloves and am running 700x28 tires.

sivat

When I first got my brooks (same model) I had a similar problem. I found that I needed to tilt the nose of the saddle up a few degrees until it started to break in and become less slippery. Once it started to break in, i was able to start lowering the nose of the saddle again.

garagegirl

Hey, Long Beach! That's my home town! Do you ever ride with the Boneshakers? Damn I miss that town.

So once your saddle broke in your wrists stopped hurting? How long did the break in take you? Did you happen to change your stem positioning at all? I'm wondering if I don't have my stem low enough (I usually have it an inch below the saddle) since the Team Pro is meant to be used with a low stem height.

riotboy

i noticed when i do long distance rides on my fixed i tend to get wrist pain to and i think it has to do with trying to mash and just keep going. my wrists get used a lot more during longer rides and endure harder use.

jjvw

I had a set of flop 'n' chop bars and had constant wrist/hand pain and numbness. No amount of wrapping, tilting, or fancy gloves would solve the problem. Finally after suffering for too many months, I bought some Nitto bullhorns with a bit of a drop. I have them tipped up about 20 degrees, so my wrists are in a natural position while seated. It was a night and day difference, no more pain or numbness--even without gloves. I was still breaking in my Brooks B17N when I made the switch, and there was no change in butt pain that day.

Buy real bullhorns!!

garagegirl

Are the nashbar bullhorns alright?

Terror_in_pink

you may have too much weight on your wrists. raise the stem/bars and try a stem with a rise. If you're riding a true track frame it's probably because of the aggresive geometry, in which case a stem with a rise will definitely add a little more comfort.

vobopl

You have changed two things affecting your fit at one go. I do not know how's your fit, yet there is a simple experiment which can tell you if it's ok. At your typical cruising speed, lift both hands just off the bar - is the position comfortable? Obviously, you will feel some more tension at the lower back, but it should go away if you speed up. If not, probably your center of gravity is too much forward (bar too far or too low or seat too much forward or too high, putting too much weight on your wrists.

sunv

i also have flip and chop bullhorns and i notice an aching and cramped feeling in my arms when i only go for short rides. So could it be my frame just doesn't fit me with the handlebars too far forward? I know the seat is higher than the handlebars but when i shift my butt to the back of the seat, the stress on my arms is relieved a bit. And mind you, this is just for less than 2 mi rides and my arms and shoulders start feeling funky, or is this just my body coping with a racing frame?

I usually grip the horizontal part of the bullhorns and not the horns themselves, i use the horns for climbing and im usually out of my seat when climbing.

nightfly

I was having wrist pains with my bullhorns and with track drops and a negative rise stem and a Brooks although I don't know the exact source of the pain because it was a new build.

The things that fixed it were a 90 degree stem (Nitto Dynamic II) and a pair of Nitto Noodle bars. I think the stem alone would have done it really but my wrists were killing me and I wanted to make it stop so I hit with a big hammer.

Once your wrists hurt they take awhile to heal so it's acutally a good time to try different combos because you will know right away what hurts.

I would try things in the follwoing order:

Play with the tilt of your Brooks, tip it very slightly up.
Try a differnt stem with slight rise. 90 degree stems do this and don't look horrible.
Change the bars last.

Obviously if you've got a setup that works for you on your road bike try and mimic that. I used to be a diehard bullhorns person on my fixed gear but I don't think I'd change from the Noodle drops now because they are so comfortable and not bad looking although not as tight as my Cinelli 1A stem and Criterium bars but I'd rather ride then stare at m bike.

sivat

I usually just ride by myself. Who are the boneshakers? The break in took me about 100 miles. After that I was able to start tilting the saddle down. I did it about one notch (cheap seatpost) at a time. If your wrists are sore, you definitely don't want to lower your stem. That will put even more weight on your wrists. Raising it a cm or 2 might help though.

Retem

really need to see pictures of your set up for this one

matthavener

keep your elbows relaxed, it will make the rest of your body do the work of keeping you upright

poopncow

One reason I don't like flipped and chopped drop bars as bull horns is that depending on the drop bar there may be a significant amount of curve in the transition from across to forward. this creates an empty pocket in the lower palm of your hand. Also the grip is concaved with creates more empty space. On a long ride with your weight on your hands, all this empty space puts strain on the wrist.

Don't get me wrong, I've done my share of chopping. But for longer rides, a good fit is no bs. These are your hands, don't mess them up.

garagegirl

Aside from making my wrists hurt, the flip and chops don't seem long enough, I kept wanting to reach forward more on longer rides. Are real bullhorns longer?

There is definetly too much curve in my bars.

thurstonboise

new bars may help. Real bullhorns are longer. It sounds like you need to change the seat angle so it points up a little more, and get your handlebars up a bit.
I fought this same thing with a Team Pro. If I had the saddle set comfortably, I slid forward constantly. If I changed the angle so i didn't slide around, it was pretty uncomfortable. I finally gave up on the Brooks.

Boss Moniker

Don't know if this'll help, but one night I road my friend's fixie (with NARROW 35 or 24 cm bars, and very short horns) around the neighborhood a couple times, so I neglected to lower the seat, thus having to stand the whole time. The next day I could hardly move my arms.. since then I have done the same thing, and there is no pain now.. I think the muscles just developed.
So I'd say, do another couple rides and if you get the same problem, then you're due for a swap or an adjustment. And adjustments are a whole lot cheaper

flipflop

Do some reading about the ulnar nurve.

I havent been able to find a solution. Went from riding lots over the summer to a dusty bike. I've tried stems, drops and bullhorns. No dice.

Going to give risers a try later this week, maybe that will work.

garagegirl

Problem solved.
Put the saddle on my geared bike today (with drops), and raised the nose a little, and my wrists still hurt. I raised the nose a lot (way more than I usually would) and my wrists felt fine again.
I put an old selle saddle back on my fixed and my wrists still really didn't like the bullhorns. Even after adjusting them several times, I'm still can't get positioned well on them. I never noticed this until taking it on a longer ride. So I'm getting TT bars for it.
Thanks for your help all.
I learned two lessons today- Flip and chops suck, and you seriously have to angle the Team Pro up.