Hurting arms

[Jillmarie]

Sounds like you could be over stretched, you should have some bend in your elbows to absorb some of the shock.
Are you using padded gloves? May also help

Thank you! I have padded gloves for weight lifting ~ is that the kind you mean? Or should I buy specific gloves?

 

[vickster]

Thank you! I have padded gloves for weight lifting ~ is that the kind you mean? Or should I buy specific gloves?

Those should do 👍

 

[Sharky]

You could try handlebar extensions to give you more varied hand positions.

Also, if the balance of your weight is biased to the arms, a slight adjustment of the saddle to move it back a tiny bit could help.

And if your saddle is tilting down, you could be sliding forwards and putting strain on the arms.

A tiny tweak can make a huge difference,

Good luck

 

[HarryTheDog]

Is the pain in your arms in the forearms, the bicep or triceps,shoulders or the elbow?
If forearm pain it could be caused by gripping the bars too tightly, can be common amongst newbies. You might be doing it without noticing.

 

[Jillmarie]

Is the pain in your arms in the forearms, the bicep or triceps,shoulders or the elbow?
If forearm pain it could be caused by gripping the bars too tightly, can be common amongst newbies. You might be doing it without noticing.

The pain is mostly in the forearms and slightly in the bicep ~ I think I may be gripping to hard but find that is not such an easy thing to change but I am going to make an effort to pay attention to that.

 

[CXRAndy]

The pain is mostly in the forearms and slightly in the bicep ~ I think I may be gripping to hard but find that is not such an easy thing to change but I am going to make an effort to pay attention to that.

Sounds like gripping too hard.

Also if the handlebars are not too low or too far away, you should be able to lift your body(core strength) away from the bars without using your arms to initiate (push off) the lift.

Try riding on a smooth road with just your finger tips touching the bars, if it take a lot of core strength to hold you there, the bars are either too far away or too low or both. If its easy then bike position is probably in the right ball park

 

[johnnyb47]

Hi.
I can't visualise what you're bike looks like but when i first got my bike i too suffered from painful arms and wrists. My solution was to flip the stem on the handlebars..
It put my weight more on to the seat and less to my arms.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Your position is wrong. You’re putting too much weight through your arms. Experiment with different riding positions, and try to take weight off of your arms as much as possible, as your core muscles strengthen, this will happen naturally, the more you ride, the quicker this will happen.

 

[figbat]

Some good advice above. One thing I do is, when riding, try to see if you can completely relax your grip enough to almost let go of the bars - still hold on enough for steering etc but with no weight bearing on them. Can you do it? Can you hold it?

I still get a little arm soreness if I ride my gravel bike over really rough terrain but on all my bikes I can do the above exercise enough to show that I am not leaning on the bars simply to stay on the bike. In fact I do the same on motorbikes too, to again show that I am not leaning on the bars through necessity.

 

[simongt]

switching the handlebars

If you do consider this alternative, bear in mind that if you decide on drops this will mean changing the brake levers as well because the exisiting ones won't be compatible with drop bars, but isn't an issue with butterfly bars. This will of course add expense.

 

[Mattk50]

I've read this thread with interest. My wrists ache after about an hour on the trainer with my hybrid bike and I have to open and close my fingers to keep the blood flowing! Can you get those road bike handle bar extensions for hybrids? I don't know what they are called but it looks like you crouch into them and puts more weight into your forearms to give your wrists a rest. Is that how they work?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I like this type of bar end, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Pair-E...hash=item56d3719e8c:m:mZSq3NYMplISKMUywIYBKgQ they give you many positions & you can change your weight around

 

[Mattk50]

Bar end! I never knew such a thing existed. Might try them out, the worst that can happen is I'll just be giving my wrists a bit of a change.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Bar end! I never knew such a thing existed. Might try them out, the worst that can happen is I'll just be giving my wrists a bit of a change.

Not saying buy those specific ones, just of that type, like all things there are many different qualities

 

[johnnyb47]

Try flipping your stem @Mattk50. It worked a treat for me👍👍