| Author | Message | ||
     Johnnymceldoo |
I just bought my first Buell a week ago and havnt been able to ride much until this weekend. This is my first street bike but grew up on dirtbikes and mopeds. My hands get numb when riding in 50 degree weather or 35 degree weather. Iam hoping and wondering this will go away once my hands get used to grabbing the grips for extended periods. I would say the numbing starts 5 minutes into the ride. This numbing never happens when doing anything else. Anyone else have this happen when they havnt rode for a long time? | ||
| Johntman |
relax your grip, you may be a little tense. | ||
| Diablobrian |
relax your grip, and support your upper body with your abdominal muscles instead of your arms. It will get better as you become accustomed to the position. An alternative is to buy different handlebars to suit the position you are used to on your dirt bikes. Do you have a firebolt or a lightning? | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
Yeah, I'm about a year and a half into my street bike riding experience, so being new is still fresh in my mind. I had this problem at first too. A combination of things helped me overcome this problem. First and foremost, get some good grips and gloves (I use Buell Torque grips and AlpineStars GP Pro Gloves). Second, remind yourself to relax your grip on the handlebars and use your legs and torso to hold up your weight. This will alleviate the "death grip" that is normal for most new riders and force you to avoid resting your weight on your palms against the handlebars. For me, the weight on my palms was mostly responsible for the numbness in my hands I discovered. Also, you'll build up strength in your hands as you progress (I noticed I had a sore neck at first too, which went away as my muscle tone improved in this area). By not resting all of your weight on the handlebars all the time, you'll be in better control of the bike too. Buells are sensitive to rider inputs. Later on when you're carving up the curves at speed, you can use your weight distribution on the bike to actually get better traction. For example, if you're coming into a curve hot and grab some brakes to scrub off speed, your front end will be loaded and the rear will be light. By gripping with your legs instead of putting your weight on the bars and further loading the front/lightening the rear, you'll have more control. There's a lot more to be said about controlling the bike at speed, but getting used to being cognizant of your body position will get you pointed in the right direction. Keep the rubber side down brother. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
This is a 97 S1. I do put alot of weight forward on my palms. It just seems natural to lunge forward a little with the footpegs being a little toward the rear. I dont have a good set of gloves yet though. Thats next one the Christmas list. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
In addition the excellent suggestions mentioned above, there are some things that you can do to reduce the amount of vibration in the bars. There are several threads on this subject. I have found that HVMP bar ends, and the Buell traction grips are effective in reducing handle bar vibration at it's source. Here is how they look on my bike.  | ||
| Bake |
Try a throttle rocker, should help or atleast allow you to exercise your fingers while ridding.Smaller grips may help too. Don't expect miracles my street bikes and dirtbikes cramp my throttle hand. | ||
| Jlnance |
My hands get numb when riding in 50 degree weather or 35 degree weather. I dont have a good set of gloves yet though. You've gotten some excellent advice, but perhaps the issue is as simple as your hands getting too cold? 50 degrees can be freezing cold on a bike if you don't have on good gear. You've got a lot of windchill going on. Try some winter gloves.  | ||
| Bueaddicted |
My hands used to get numb when I bought my 12r this year, but they don't now. As others have said, I was too tense gripping the handlebars - I used to think that the bike was going to go one way, I the other! not used to all that torque...  Now I wish the bike had even more torque - maybe the '08 model will deliver...  | ||
| Angelwild327 |
some people, like myself have shorter/tighter tendons in the underside of the forearm... which interprets into nerve impingement when your wrists are flexed backward too far... definitely loosen your grip, no need to hold on super tight..but work with slightly different wrist angles as well.. I find when I'm slower city riding it's worse, when i am on the highway I'm tucked down more and with my elbows in and lower that numbness never happens... When I get numb, I take my hand off the left handlebar, put it down and the tingling goes away...the right hand you can do if you're coming to a stop and use your foot brake.. then readjust your wrist position... definitely use more abs and less arm power.. | ||
| Jackbequick |
I had carpal tunnel problems when I got my M2 and my throttle hand was falling asleep on me real quick. I bought a CrampBuster, it provided instant relief for me: http://www.crampbuster.com/ With the CB-1 the paddle lays under the heel of your hand on and you can maintain your throttle settings with a relaxed grip and slight changes in your wrist angle. Doesn't get in the way, easy to adjust and remove for storage. I have a H-D Dyna now and got one for that too even though the Dynas come with a thumbwheel/screw down type throttle lock. The CB-1 and CB-2 is the right one for the standard Buell grips or Traction Grips, the CB-3 and CB-4 fit the bigger metal with rubber insert grips on the H-D's. Jack | ||
| Phantom5oh |
I find that my hands/palms cramp up when I am riding in stop and go traffic. It's caused by my weight shifting around when I hit the brakes suddenly. I've found that if I leave myself more room between me and the car in front of me, I can apply the brakes more smoothly and my hands don't cramp up. | ||
| Fullpower |
I use my heated grips most of the time. It helps. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
I took everyones advice today and eased up on my grip controlling my weight more with my stomach muscles and this helped quite a bit. It will be in the 60's tomorrow so I can ride to work again and get some more road time. | ||
| Cowboy |
TRy rideing with a tank bag you can lay across it and ride for hours with no problem.(arms are very relaxed) | ||
| Oldog |
"Johnny" WELCOME TO THE MADNESS! crampy hands all of the above !! | ||
| Vaneo1 |
two words... THROTTLE ROCKER. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
Yeah, I second the tank bag!!! | ||
| Bdabuell |
you might also want to spend a few minutes adjusting the position of your brake/clutch levers to make sure they are in the optimal position for your hands...the position as delivered is obviously not going to be ideal for everyone...small ergonomic changes like that can make a notable difference my $0.02 | ||
| Leoloureiro |
Try www.powerballs.com. 1 time a day, 5 minutes on each hand. Worked a lot to me. | ||
| Easy_rider |
There's a nerve just below your pinky that doesn't like to be compressed. I've been told a glove with extra padding there will help the tingling. The root cause may still be a tight grip and position, but gloves may be part of the cure.... ...or is the cure, "More Cowbell!!" |
