First bike had Bontrager ally bars and I got terrible pins and needles after about 15 miles. Swapped to Vibrocore bars and P&N greatly reduced. Changed bike. Kept Vibrocore bars. New bike had Bontrager ally bars, same as the first bike. Both bike on Debonair Yari forks. Didn't swap out the Bontrager for the Vibrocores immediately as I hadn't noticeably suffered from P&N for ages, but it had been wet for ages. Conditions dried out and on some long descents I'd start to get P&N again. Eventually had a day of bike maintenance so I swapped the bars and not further P&N at all, despite doing longer rides of 25-30 miles.
That's awesome when you feel that progression!
And to be clear, I'm not saying there isn't anything to what he says, it just hasn't made a bigger difference to me, it has made a smaller one, but still useful. But so many are helped by a cheap thing immediately like changing a bar or grip, as you were for the past year and a half. I wasn't saying he was wrong, just asking him if he meant it was the bigger difference, as I hadn't experienced that and it's always nice to learn what others experience. To me, and I really mean to me, and have no idea if it applies to others, riding position and relaxing/breathing changes make a small but useful difference. But for example if I put the wrong grip on, like I did earlier this week, it's 10x worse and I don't personally get much value from completing trying to overhaul my riding style, vs just putting the old grips on or buying a new set for a few dollars.
Your experience is interesting, as you bought a set of bars for what, 1-2% of your total bike cost and enjoyed your riding much more for the next year, that's an easy win in my book, but I suppose that calculation is different for everyone.
I've also found equipment can help me progress in my riding style, so I say if you have the disposable income why not. I remember when I was first riding DH in Whistler, I was on a 5" travel bike without much DH experience and riding quite poorly, and with little confidence as expected. I hopped on a big bike, 8" travel, DH machine, and rode for a few weeks, but when the bike was out of commission I ended up hitting the mountain again on my 5" bike and it was much, much better. Then I hopped on a friends hardtail with 4" fork and was perfectly comfortable hitting all of my usual lines. It wasn't nearly as nice of a ride, and I ached after, but mentally the big bike really helped me get over my mental blocks. I probably could have ridden for months and progressed that much, or taken some lessons, but from then on when friends would come visit me in Whistler and they were struggling I would just tell them to go rent a full on DH bike for a day, and when they did they progressed so much so quickly, and retained it when they got on their own bike.
I guess that leave me half an half on this. If my hands hurt, or someone else tells me they have a funny pinching feeling say after buying a new bike, I'd still recommend just swapping some parts out, but if that's not convenient, or if we're halfway through a ride, I'll definitely be altering my riding position/style and trying to relax to make it through, and if that's enough great. But if someone comes into "what did you buy for your bike this week" and tells me they bought some new bars, I'm probably going to lean towards congratulating them on their new purchase until they come back and say it didn't work.
Circling back, on your original bar purchase, are you happy with it, or do you wished you had just ridden with the pain until you figured out how to improve your riding enough to fix the problem without the part?
www.themudhugger.co.uk
. There's a slight back and forth play in the disc (you don't really notice it while riding) and I hated the low profile bolts heads that were smaller than regular 6 bolts. Harder to deal with and easier to strip. It works fine on my mate xc bike but I got center-lock disc for my center-lock wheels. I hope they're a bit better since then or that you went for another brand.
