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Tuesday, June 20

Barring any unexpected circumstances

The never ending battle to prop of this crumbling infrastructure that makes up my human form continues.  My modified by Fattimagic shorty stem was only a piece of the puzzle.  A puzzle meant to address my rhomboid issue but one that brought even more bad things to light.

My hands that I did very bad things to doing trail work back in March continued to bother me... because I'm a moron, mostly.

The original 580mm crabon flat bar was way too narrow, but it's what I could get my hands on real quick like.  They did nothing to open up my chest while riding (something I wanted to do for my tight rhomboid muscle), so the search was on for something wider with a 26mm clamp diameter (or 25.4 with a beer can shim).

Shortly thereafter, these came into my world:

If the story is true, these bars were made by Moots for Mike Curiak... which makes sense.  If anyone could get Moots to do something custom and super neato, he could.

This bar is the same width as the ones on my Vertigo Meatplow V.7 and the Stickle Meatplow V.6.  Also, the reach on all three bikes is terribly close to one another... no wonder it feels right.  So my width issue was resolved, but I continued to do bad things to my hands.

Before the Fattimagic stem was done, I just started riding the carbon risers that were on my pump with the 50mm stem from my Stickle and some ESI Chunky grips that had come into my possession somehow.  I've had issues with using Chunky grips before on my mountain bike.  I'd assumed it was one thing or the other, but I eventually found my happy place with the Racer's Edge grips.

I figured it was just a stopgap measure until I got my bar situation figured out, and when I finally got my hands on the Moots bars, I went into the shop to get some new grips.  No Racer's Edge in stock... no patience to place an order... walk outta the store with a pair of Chunky grips.

Ride with them for weeks.  Rhomboid feeling better, not 100%, but better.  Hands still in pain on the daily tho.

What was it about Chunky grips I didn't like again?

I put my old ratty Racer's Edge grips on (yeth, I saved them) and guess what?

Two weeks later, my hand pain is all but gone.

If I had to take a stab at the hows and whys, mebbe it's my hands that are in correct proportion to my four apple tall height and their inability to get around the larger grip?  Mebbe it's the cushier grip that requires a little more squeezing to hold onto?  Dunno, but I'm glad that like most physical problems I've had, self-diagnosis and treatment or just plain ignoring them long enough has worked out once again.

Now if someone would just buy me this titanium quill stem bolt, everything should be super copacetic a-ok.

5 comments:

Ari said...

30 years in the industry have taught me that fat grips make your hands hurt. The larger dia. Puts strain on the hand muscles making them fatigue. Also short finger gloves with lots of padding are no bueno. I am surprised you did not try some ergons for relief. Round grips tend to irritate the ulnar nerves. Take care. Ari

dicky said...

I've tried Ergons. The tiny radius at the inner portion of the grip makes my thumb pit ache, and my arthritic pinkies don't like the cold metal lock -on portion.

eric said...

I am just the opposite. Small grips make my hands hurt. I only find happiness with the extra chunky. Maybe I am used to holding on to bigger things then everyone else? or maybe it is that I am so arthritic that it helps to not have to squeeze so small. same same

Anonymous said...

I remember a couple of years ago when Mike C had that bike for sale on his website. Unbelievable foresight that went into that (and the matching trailer). All 4 wheels were interchangeable and most of the tubes were storage for water or fuel.

Anonymous said...

Walmart has these purple pads I use on my walker. https://tinyurl.com/y9jq92ka