Cycling UK Forum

Not arthritis but back issues from the good lady, went for Butterfly Bars .
Takes most of the pressure off the back and shoulders .

Ergotech englischer handlebars

Tricyclebell wrote: ↑3 Nov 2023, 6:48pm Hello to all you arthritic cyclists. Just wondering what folk are doing when they develop wrist/hand arthritis and find their bars are no longer comfortable. I currently have straight bars with Ergo bar ends which have been great but now feel I want more position options. My bike is comfortable, I have provided extra shock absorption via silicone metatarsal pads on my hands (fantastic) but sometimes I feel I want to sit up more and then I want to be stretched out. My first port of call is to go onto wider tyres, I currently ride 28s on 650 wheels (it's a very small bike for a very small person). Disc brakes have helped as my hands are quite weak. I am looking at butterfly bars but they are much wider than would be recommended for my shoulder width. Any tips would be appreciated.

For most of a lifetime, I have ridden drops for everything, including roughstuff and taking the kids on the tandem; and occasionally roughstuff with one of the kids on the tandem!
My hands were mainly on the hoods or behind the hoods on the "ramps", to get that variation in reach. Like many recreational cyclists, I hardly used the drops.
Arthritis intervened, and I couldn't brake from the hoods, it simply hurt my arthritic thumbs too much.

My solution was home-made bullbars

IMG_5137 by 531colin, on Flickr

I couldn't find any commercial bullbars which were narrow enough (ie drop bar width) and also gave sufficient variation in reach.
If you search my posts, there are quite a lot of posts about bullbars, and also how to mount Downtube levers on the bars. ([url][viewtopic.php?f=5&t=113772&hilit=bullbars/url]

Moving the saddle back will take weight off your hands, which might help.

That's an interesting set up. Like you managing brake levers on drops became impossible so I switched to straight bars a few years ago but then things move on again with age. i thought about increasing stem length but I guess mocing the saddle back would be easier for same effect, worth a try. Thanks.

There's some discussion about this topic on a previous thread viewtopic.php?t=143232

Straight handlebars are more efficient at turning than drop (if slightly less aerodynamic).We all suffer in winter as temperatures plummet.Stock up on Olive oil and nuts.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British vintage

cycle tramp wrote: ↑6 Nov 2023, 5:37pm 20230902_090601.jpg
Ergotech englischer handlebars

they look nice and comfortable.


I wrapped some old carry mat which has helped, but at sometime in the future I will need something better, I often wonder if my left hand will stop me riding

One small point here. If you suffer arthritis in your thumb joints, then these thumb shifters on straight bars can be painful to operate.
For years, I rode a Claud Butler Odyssey hybrid that came fitted with Gripshift changers.Not long after getting it, I fitted Dutch Anatomic bars and kept the changers upgrading to Sram. I would not touch thumb shifters now and would urge people to ignore the prejudice around grip shifters. I changed to grip shift on my e bike a few years ago and I'm well pleased with the combination of a nine speed mech and a Sram Centra changer. I was quite happy to forego one sprocket rather than pay over a hundred quid for a ten speed gripshift changer.
The Centras are less than thirty quid!

I think you are confusing thumb shifters with rapid fire types.

True thumb shifters are the perfectly useable without the thumb!! They are the only shifter you can use with the palm/ ball of hand. My thumbs are (just) ok, but I often shift using the ball going forward and palm / heel of hand when pulling the lever backwards.

That are old fashioned, but Microshift do some very nice new ones, indexed with friction option: superb, lasts forever. Which is of course why Shimano etc stopped making them.
Mine are 9 speed, used with Shimano XT rear mech. 11speed are available.
They can be placed in a wide variety of positions on the bars/bar ends/extensions.
Top choice for touring: bomb proof, maintainable, friction option to cover rear mech damage, front changer is friction only so trimming is easy.

Index only rapid fire shifters need the thumb, have only one position in the bars, have no friction option, complex. I have them on a few bikes and get on with ok, but the traditional thumbies are much better all round.

Pebble wrote: ↑11 Nov 2023, 3:14pm

cycle tramp wrote: ↑6 Nov 2023, 5:37pm 20230902_090601.jpg
Ergotech englischer handlebars

they look nice and comfortable.


I wrapped some old carry mat which has helped, but at sometime in the future I will need something better, I often wonder if my left hand will stop me riding

Strewth! Is that a kitchen sink on them bars? I can't quite see because of all the other clatter-clutter. The alternative hand positions you might have otherwise enjoyed seem cut-orf by all that stuff. Perhaps a forward-extension bar for the clutter would be a first step in improving the bars for your hand discomforts, although a different bar and stem can also offer a lot ...... but will cost you.

Although I haven't got arthritis (yet) my joints and sinews are getting less elastic, so different bars from the bog-standard drops are now being slowly acquired and installed. The best I've found so far are, unfortunately, a bit pricey as they're made of carbon fibre. They're a set of those multi-angled things meant for gravel bikes.

https://www.merlincycles.com/deda-gera- ... 78539.html

Even at half of their list price, they're very spendy. There are aluminium copies but the CF is a significant additional provider of comfort as it seems to absorb a great deal of the road buzz - nearly all that's left after mounting them on another expensive item, a Redshift boingy stem. However, the alternative wrist angles now available have given me a great reduction in wrist ache and palm-numb compared to the standard aluminium drop bars they replaced.

These bars provide other small improvements: a slightly more upright position, as well as my usual, becomes available with one change of bar-grip position; the drop parts are never used (by me) these days but their outward sweep means that the mirrors mounted on the bar ends have a much improved field of vision - no blind spots behind you bum and immense thighs.

"tenbikes
Re: arthritis and handlebars
Unread post 27 Nov 2023, 9:43am

"I think you are confusing thumb shifters with rapid fire types.

True thumb shifters are the perfectly useable without the thumb!! They are the only shifter you can use with the palm/ ball of hand. My thumbs are (just) ok, but I often shift using the ball going forward and palm / heel of hand when pulling the lever backwards."

Precisely so. I swopped my most used bike to retro thumbies because I don't have to use my thumbs!

Can still pick up good nick 3 x 7 (with a friction option) for c. 50 quid.

For the last 7 years I have been plagued with arthritis in my left hand coupled with what the doctor describes as “fair wear and tear”.

Having tried different combinations of handlebars and brake levers, none matched my preferred drop-bars and bar-end shifters My solution has been to fit ‘Grab-On’ foam bar covers which absorb a lot of the road vibration, with in-line cyclo-cross levers as using the drop rear brake is painful.

While not totally curing the problem it does allow me to keep riding with some degree of comfort.

BTW. Wiggle have the Tektro in-line levers in their clearance sale as of today.

Tricyclebell wrote: ↑3 Nov 2023, 6:48pm Hello to all you arthritic cyclists. Just wondering what folk are doing when they develop wrist/hand arthritis and find their bars are no longer comfortable. I currently have straight bars with Ergo bar ends which have been great but now feel I want more position options. My bike is comfortable, I have provided extra shock absorption via silicone metatarsal pads on my hands (fantastic) but sometimes I feel I want to sit up more and then I want to be stretched out. My first port of call is to go onto wider tyres, I currently ride 28s on 650 wheels (it's a very small bike for a very small person). Disc brakes have helped as my hands are quite weak. I am looking at butterfly bars but they are much wider than would be recommended for my shoulder width. Any tips would be appreciated.

GMBN is a great YouTube channel for e bikers and this came up this week.

It is an impossible point to answer

They were discussing how riders had (like me I do NOT have any fitness issues thankfully) fitted extenders see image, fitted longer travel shocks, tried thicker/thinner grips, lowered tyre pressure, and so on

Personally I LOVE the higher ride

I've found that gel pads https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m9b0s126p23 ... 284-pcs%29 under cushioned bar tape https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m9b0s126p35 ... th-EVA-Gel reduce vibration and improve hand comfort as the bars are effectively thicker.