[BikerBoy28]

whenever i ride dh (only dh courses) i experiance really bad hand pain. my gloves are about a size to small. i do know that i squeeze the bars really hard, which is some of my problem, but does too small of gloves have anything to do with hand pain? Its only in my ring and pinky finger knuckles and outsides of my hands. suggestions to relieve this?

 

[proworkz]

Biker it could be the angle of your brake levers. If they are up to high it can cause hand pain. But you are right about the "gorilla" grip. Gripping to tight will cause hand pain as well. Most hand pain is just part of the DH experience in my opinion..

 

[Alloy]

I've been trying remedy hands going out for a long time. ...A few things you can do.... (new gloves only solve blister problems.)

Just like any muscle, I've found you have to stress your hands and let them recover. After a few months they'll start feeling thick and beefy and your hand endurance will be significantly more.

One problem is the only real way to stress your hands is by riding your bike on lift accessible DH trails. The second best is moto. Hand excises are helpful but are only about 10 percent as effective as riding.

You can speed the recovery of your hands by massaging them hourly. Also you can put a rubber band around the outside of your fingers and stretch it by opening your hand. Don't ask me why, but this works wonders for recovering finger joints. Use thicker rubber bands as your hands get stronger. If you don't have rubberband, make one out of a strip of innertube rubber.

There are a few quick fixes but they take some trial and error.

Grips can make a difference... the right grips are different for everybody so you have to experiment and figure out what works for you.

A new fork can make a huge difference, but this expensive and I have yet to find one that was night and day from another. (Rumors say and inverted will be much easier on your hands, maybe someone can elaborate on that)

Your brakes can help a lot as well. The new Saints are awesome, make sure and set them up to engage as close the handlebar as possible and run the levers far inward towards the stem. Also make sure you're pulling the lever with the the middle pad of your finger, don't use the tip of your finger.

If ride too long, your knuckles can swell up and then you're fvcked, if this happens you'll need at least a week to recover. Stop riding before that happens and do the recovery stuff mentioned above. You should be able to go 2 or 3 days, then rest one day.