Arm pump/hand fatigue help?

[MtbWalker]

Does anyone suffer with arm pump or hand fatigue? What did you do to remedy it?
I suffer with it really bad, it absolutely kills my runs.

Cheers in advance

 

[Downhillr]

I have played around a lot with the position of my levers. I will give everything else a go. Thanks for the reply.

In my case I found I had more arm pump from
A: gripping too tightly on chatter/DH…
I changed bars to OneUp carbon and grips to ODI with D30 padding, these changes dampened chatter so I don’t need to grip as hard
B: braking on longer DH runs…
(I have SRAM Maven brakes) so I run a better pad than stock and recently updated the lever kit, these changes enable lighter pull and actually helped modulation, I’m not squeezing as hard

 

[Montana St Alum]

Don't death grip the bars. Hold it like a bird, tight enough it keep it from escaping but not crush it.

A great line from "Scaramouche"! One of the greatest fencing scenes in cinema.

 

[Montana St Alum]

In my case I found I had more arm pump from
A: gripping too tightly on chatter/DH…
updated the lever kit, these changes enable lighter pull and actually helped modulation, I’m not squeezing as hard

Arm pump beats face pump! It's a fine line.

 

[Pauliemon]

A great line from "Scaramouche"! One of the greatest fencing scenes in cinema.

Ha ha, I didn't know that. I was told that by one of my motocross mentors. This guy used to stand on the side of the track and yell at us. He'd stand on the inside of a slow turn and correct our team riders. In my case it was, "don't look back!". Scaramouche, never watched it and probably never will.

 

[Pauliemon]

I changed bars to OneUp carbon bars

I've got OneUp carbons on one bike and Deity carbons on another. You can definitely feel the difference. Those OneUps are pretty sweet in the chatters.

 

[mvtomas]

Been following this thread and the great info. Changes so far and all at once: OneUp thick grips, Brake levers nearly parallel to ground, backed off on Fox 38 LSC four clicks with 10 less pounds air pressure and front tire pressure down to 22 (was 25). Rode the same route as I did yesterday of XC rocky rooty type riding and it was a big difference. Tomorrow plan to hit big descents to check out. Next may be a carbon bar and/or an SQLab bar.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Yeah, I think more sweep is often "more" better. When I put bars with 12 degree back sweep on, I did also put on a slightly longer stem to maintain the basic geometry and it worked well. Years ago, I kayaked and the paddle caused bumps on the inside of the thumb joints, like a really thick callous. Once I got an ergonomic, bent shaft paddle, it really eased that pressure and the callouses went away. Back-sweep does much the same thing, I think.

I would say that your correct about the sweep, even though I’ve only ridden once since I got my new bars the angle change to my wrists was much more noticeable and comfortable, I can’t remember what the sweep angle is at this moment though

 

[nuzzie]

Good advice here. I would suggest bottoms-up Kettle Bell press for wrist stability. Just as important as grip strength. If it’s good enough for Aaron Gwin…
I have arthritis in my thumbs from trail building so I have gone for all the things.
Revgrips
One Up 50mm rise bar
Hope V4 on big rotors
Also added Rimpact TMD to my analogue bike on a Whistler trip last year and I thought it made a significant improvement.
For me it’s all about marginal gains which do add up

I have lingering issues from a high grade tear of my UCL and arthritis in that thumb, and have been having a lot of issues at the bike park lately, so this is hugely helpful to me, thanks. How much effect did the Rev grips have? I've been wondering if a grip more like the GA3 would be good to try load the outer palm more than near my thumb. I'm guessing you went through a few grips before landing on the Revs

 

[Eded&eddie]

Most comfortable bars ex stock are Faast Flex (they come with a set of different elastomers) and the One Up Carbon bar.

Problem with FF is it only comes in 30mm rise.

One Up now has a 50mm option.

Higher rise bars are more comfortable.

To increase comfort even further insert kiln dried sand into the bars. That will reduce vibrations further and calm steering momentum.

Never heard of filling with sand! But my vibrocore bars were one of the comfiest bars I’ve had, which were filled with foam so can see how it might work

 

[Highland Wheels]

Riding more, changing from stiff bars to a more forgiving bar and leveling out my brake levers Godstone style got rid of the arm pump and hand fatigue I used to get.

 

[Loamranger]

Never heard of filling with sand! But my vibrocore bars were one of the comfiest bars I’ve had, which were filled with foam so can see how it might work

Vibrocore definitely helps but found FF and One Up Carbon even better for damping vibrations. Also builders foam injected into any bar helps as well and is a low cost option. Even better results can be had from kiln dried sand. It will add weight of 300/400g depending on rise.

 

[skizzian]

has anybody tried the ODI Vanquish and the Ergon GXR ?
I've been pretty happy with the GXR except of course they're push on - which is a PITA
contemplating the Vanquish but not sure I want to shell out £40 if there's no improvement...

just to note 35mm bars are generally not as compliant as 31.8mm bars
I did the builders foam on some alloy 31.8mm and it was noticeable (not nearly as good as Vibrocore) did it in some 35mm bars and didn't notice the change.

 

[Rich888]

Ergon GE1 grips cured mine

 

[James_C]

servicing my fork had a large effect for me recently!

 

[skizzian]

I found the ODI Vanquish not quite as good as the Ergon GXR grips
a bit more death grip, a bit more thumb pain and a teeny bit more wrist pain
but I'll probably keep them as they look nicer and are much easier when working on the bars...

 

[Loamranger]

One thing that can help are end flanges on the grips, like the ones Joe Breeden the DH rider uses. One option is to try the “locked in” ends that Wolf Tooth has just launched. I first started using similar about five years ago and found that I had less hand fatigue. Probably because with the end flange enable a lighter grip.