Bad vibrations man

[MobyRick]

I'm a newbie to mountain biking. I always had a roadie until I bought a cheap eMTB recently. As the weather (in UK) improves I'm riding longer and more often and the vibrations from riding off-road are really killing my wrists. I'm getting serious numbness, carpal tunnel in my fingers and my forearms are killing me. I'm over 50 so that's probably part of it, but I've got decent grips and padded gloves. Never had this experience on the road (obviously).

There may be a little too much weight on my hands so I'll fix that with a shorter stem, but it's only slightly out. I can lower the tyre pressure a bit too. Any other tips from you wise ones out there? Can I adjust the fork? It's a Rockshock Judy on a basic Rockrider EST-900. I'm not planning any serious trail riding by the way, mainly gravel and country lanes.

 

[Pizzman]

Try
Proper Carbon bars (very forgiving to vibrations)
More backsweep on your bars.
Short stem
Tall bars

If you’re on an air fork experiment with pressures. Aircan Inserts or bottomless tokens can allow you to run less fork air pressure (small bump compliance) at a cost of stiff compression on the end of stroke (steep progression curve)
I wouldn’t even worry about sag, until your speed dictates proper sag settings (bottoming out, fork washout on turns).

Also with seat time you may find a small amount of relief as you get used to the bumpies.

 

[RustyMTB]

Plenty of over 50's doing fine on mountain bikes & coming from road, you'll be used to riding rigid forks. Your fork is entry level but still has adjustment available. On that side of things, you can add or remove air to adjust the sag in the fork & in turn the stiffness. SRAM advise you should aim for about 30% sag when wearing your normal kit on the bike & Youtube is full of videos on how to set sag. One obvious thing to check is you don't actually have the fork locked out - check the adjuster on the right of the fork as you sit in the bike but a maladjusted fork is probably not going to be a main contributor to wrist pain.

Otherwise, you can change lots around contact points, stem height, bar rise & sweep via new bars and/or stem spacers, saddle position & height and how your brakes & gear pod are angled. AIUI roadies routinely do bike fits which aren't really a thing in MTB but probably should be, so at a guess, that side of things will be familiar to you.

Ideally with the crank at 6 o'clock, your leg should not quite be locked out. If it is, you're likely to be arse up, head down, putting too much weight through your wrists, this kind of stuff is the basics to mess around changing until you find the ideal set up.

 

[steve_sordy]

@MobyRick These grips look odd, but they provide a greater contact area for your hands. After having bad problems at first with numbness and pins&needles, I have been using them for over 18 years. They are Ergon GP1 grips. They last quote a long time before the diamond pattern wears, but they will last for ever if you don't care about that. They need to be flatter than you woukd think. Taken an allen key with you on your first couple of rides until you get the angle dialled in. Be prepared for each grip angle to be a little different. Unless you have freakishly small hands, don't buy the small size. Unless you have twist shifting don't buy the Gripshift type.

A point mentioned on another post, about buying bars with more backsweep. Backsweep is an important thing to get right. Before you make a change, read this.
You can test what your natural backsweep is quickly, easily and free! You don't have to guess and experiment by buying or borrowing new bars.
Start with some grips or two pieces of wood roughly grip sized. Join them with a piece of string so that the total length is the same as the width of your bars. Then just hold the "grips" in front of you with the string straight, you don't have to pull on it. The string puts your arms in the corre t position, and it allows complete flexibility for your hands to fall inot thier natural position. Do this above a table with some paper on it and when you are comfortable in the biking position, ask a friend to mark on the paper the position and angle of the "grips". From that you can easily get you natural backsweep angle.
There is a YouTube video on how to do it, somewhere.

Here is a useful ovwerall guide on getting to a good fit on your mtb. The guy starts off with numb hands.

 

[irie]

Probably need higher rise bars to get some weight off your hands.

 

[OffitThatM8]

If you're a roadie make sure you don't have your emtb set up like a roadie bike ie super high seat, leaned far forwards, straight leg extension on max pedal stroke etc, you want a bit of bend at the knee to facilitate about a 1-3" of space between your cheeks and the saddle when fully extended and you're stood up on the bike. Ideal seat angle is about 1-2 degrees.


Also make sure your suspension isn't set too hard (20-30% sag), rebound is adjusted properly and you're running correct PSI for mtb tyres, even with tubes you shouldn't be running anything over 30psi, I'm a tall and heavy rider and run usually 20psi average in the front (on the far end of the spectrum 18 in slop, 23 in dusty summer)


And just another tip, don't grip the bars too tightly, hold the bars securely but let it all move around underneath you, stay loose.

Went through all this sort of stuff with my dad many moons back when he stopped riding road and bought his first ever mtb, took him on his first mtb ride expecting him to love it and instead got moaning the entire 20 miles we did "my arse hurts, my wrists hurt, what do you mean only one finger on the brakes I know what you're doing here you just want early inheritance, my knees hurt, how can i be riding up a hill wrong that makes no sense, my fingers are numb, my elbows are sore, can we stop for coffee and cake, i need bigger mudguards, you guys are lunatics, my shoulders hurt" etc

Took us a lot of trial and error to dial in his bike fit and get him used to feeling how a good mtb fit should feel after he'd been a roadie all his life

 

[pagheca]

I'm a newbie to mountain biking. I always had a roadie until I bought a cheap eMTB recently. As the weather (in UK) improves I'm riding longer and more often and the vibrations from riding off-road are really killing my wrists. I'm getting serious numbness, carpal tunnel in my fingers and my forearms are killing me. I'm over 50 so that's probably part of it, but I've got decent grips and padded gloves. Never had this experience on the road (obviously).

There may be a little too much weight on my hands so I'll fix that with a shorter stem, but it's only slightly out. I can lower the tyre pressure a bit too. Any other tips from you wise ones out there? Can I adjust the fork? It's a Rockshock Judy on a basic Rockrider EST-900. I'm not planning any serious trail riding by the way, mainly gravel and country lanes.

This looks quite strange.

Just to know: how long are your rides? How many times a week? I have never experience real pain on the wrists and I am 67 (and certainly not a champion...), therefore I guess it is a matter of position, as you already guessed.

 

[Nicho]

I'm a newbie to mountain biking. I always had a roadie until I bought a cheap eMTB recently. As the weather (in UK) improves I'm riding longer and more often and the vibrations from riding off-road are really killing my wrists. I'm getting serious numbness, carpal tunnel in my fingers and my forearms are killing me. I'm over 50 so that's probably part of it, but I've got decent grips and padded gloves. Never had this experience on the road (obviously).

There may be a little too much weight on my hands so I'll fix that with a shorter stem, but it's only slightly out. I can lower the tyre pressure a bit too. Any other tips from you wise ones out there? Can I adjust the fork? It's a Rockshock Judy on a basic Rockrider EST-900. I'm not planning any serious trail riding by the way, mainly gravel and country lanes.

I second the Ergon grips. Your hand rests on them in a flatter position, avoiding the need to grip tightly thereby relieving pressure on your hands and arms.
They cured similar symptoms I had, but you have to play around with micro adjustments to find the exact position which will work for you; a few mm up or down can make the difference.

 

[RustyIron]

Can I adjust the fork? It's a Rockshock Judy

Yes, you can adjust a Rockshox Judy. You can, and you should.
A knowledgable rider wouldn't even go out on his first ride without setting up the suspension.
Do this before buying new parts.
Don't compensate for bad suspension by under inflating your tires.

 

[Paulquattro]

Welcome to the forum
Hope you get yourself set up soon

 

[irie]

I'm not planning any serious trail riding by the way, mainly gravel and country lanes.

Because you're riding in a mainly static position they ^^^ are far worse for arm, wrist, back, and bum pain than when offroad and moving around the bike. Get comfortable in that static position, forget what it looks like - if it works it's good.

 

[Stihldog]

Lots of good advice here but you may have to experiment a little until you’re pain and numb free. Your style, or location, of riding, is gonna play a big factor.

My roadie geometry was completely different from my mtb geometry. Took a few years to get the mtb geometry to where I was happy. Numb and cramping hands were my last issue with the type of riding I was experiencing for my daily rides on this downhill mountain. Riding on the flats on gravel was completely different again. I digress.

Our hand shapes are all different. (Besides our general geometry). I started off with winged-type grips because they looked good and made sense. I liked them. However, within 30 minutes the hand-cramps would begin followed by tingling feeling. My wrist were ok.

A single finger braking action (Magura MT7) eliminated the death-grip. I became more relaxed, but still had hand-cramps. Finally a larger diameter grip was the answer (Oury). No more cramps. Why?

The shape of my hands. Apparently there is a nerve that extends from the pinky finger to the wrist. That nerve was being pressed with wing-shaped grips. It bothered me but that style would feel comfortable for others.

It was trial n error. Cost me a few $$$ before I was satisfied, pain-free, and my attention focused on wandering hikers again.

 

[Purple parznip]

I'm a newbie to mountain biking. I always had a roadie until I bought a cheap eMTB recently. As the weather (in UK) improves I'm riding longer and more often and the vibrations from riding off-road are really killing my wrists. I'm getting serious numbness, carpal tunnel in my fingers and my forearms are killing me. I'm over 50 so that's probably part of it, but I've got decent grips and padded gloves. Never had this experience on the road (obviously).

There may be a little too much weight on my hands so I'll fix that with a shorter stem, but it's only slightly out. I can lower the tyre pressure a bit too. Any other tips from you wise ones out there? Can I adjust the fork? It's a Rockshock Judy on a basic Rockrider EST-900. I'm not planning any serious trail riding by the way, mainly gravel and country lanes.

Higher rise bars,super soft grips,and adjust your lever angle,also check your stem length,i had bad arm pump(im 58),i was holding on too tight doing steep downhill,higher rise bars 50 mm and adusting the brake bite on my levers solved it for me,my brakes dont bite until they are literally touching the grip,it transforms my ride,no more arm pump!
Good luck with it

 

[MNTurboLevo]

Higher rise bars,super soft grips,and adjust your lever angle,also check your stem length,i had bad arm pump(im 58),i was holding on too tight doing steep downhill,higher rise bars 50 mm and adusting the brake bite on my levers solved it for me,my brakes dont bite until they are literally touching the grip,it transforms my ride,no more arm pump!
Good luck with it

 

[MNTurboLevo]

I am 78 and have been riding for 9 years. Mostly in Arizona and Minnesota. I had much the same issue when first MTB. Here is what worked for me. First thing I would do is check the bar width. Lay a tape measure on the floor and get. down and do a few pushups with your hands shoulder width apart. Measure the width between the outside of your hands. This is roughly how wide your bar should be. Second, Get on your bike and adjust your seat height to a proper level with a slight bend in your knee on the down pedal. Get off the bike and measure the height of the seat from the floor to the top of the seat. Do the same for the height of your bars at the grips. You should have 3 to 5 inches of rise from the seat to the bar height. It not use spacers on the stem and/or riser bars to get this rise. Also I would change out to Erfgon grips. mentioned above. Also go on Youtube and find a video on how to set up your brake levers which will also take a lot of pressure off your wrists in the chuncky stuff. Good luck and happy riding!

 

[John Beedham]

@MobyRick These grips look odd, but they provide a greater contact area for your hands. After having bad problems at first with numbness and pins&needles, I have been using them for over 18 years. They are Ergon GP1 grips. They last quote a long time before the diamond pattern wears, but they will last for ever if you don't care about that. They need to be flatter than you woukd think. Taken an allen key with you on your first couple of rides until you get the angle dialled in. Be prepared for each grip angle to be a little different. Unless you have freakishly small hands, don't buy the small size. Unless you have twist shifting don't buy the Gripshift type.

View attachment 180169
A point mentioned on another post, about buying bars with more backsweep. Backsweep is an important thing to get right. Before you make a change, read this.
You can test what your natural backsweep is quickly, easily and free! You don't have to guess and experiment by buying or borrowing new bars.
Start with some grips or two pieces of wood roughly grip sized. Join them with a piece of string so that the total length is the same as the width of your bars. Then just hold the "grips" in front of you with the string straight, you don't have to pull on it. The string puts your arms in the corre t position, and it allows complete flexibility for your hands to fall inot thier natural position. Do this above a table with some paper on it and when you are comfortable in the biking position, ask a friend to mark on the paper the position and angle of the "grips". From that you can easily get you natural backsweep angle.
There is a YouTube video on how to do it, somewhere.

Here is a useful ovwerall guide on getting to a good fit on your mtb. The guy starts off with numb hands.

Yep…..GP1s all day long!

 

[RustyMTB]

I guess the OP's arms must have fallen off.

 

[skizzian]

I've had the same experience.
I found the alloy Spank vibrocore handlebars the best and considerably cheaper than the OneUp Ebike bars I now use. I used to use Ergon grips with a small wrist wing, but with the carbon eBike I've had to go to their GXR foam ones.
the other aspects like reach, height and back sweep have already been mentioned
the one other thing would be going to Radial Tyres - I now use Schwalbe Radials to take some of the buzz out
good luck