Ok if we have any mountain bikers around. I’ve been mountain biking over 10 years, however moving to Indiana, a wife, house, kids, and woodworking can take a bite out of my riding time. I’ve haven’t ridden much the last couple years. Recently I’ve had some trouble with my hands getting numb (the left more then the right). My wife says it looks like a bit of carpal tunnel. Anyway, my bike was very nice for its day, and I’ve kept up with a fair number of upgrades, so it’s still a decent machine. My question is this: when I bought my bike flat handlebars with bar ends and long low stems were the rage. Now the bars are risers, the stems seem shorter, and the bar ends are gone. So is this marketing, fashion, or what? My current stem is 135mm and I have a 105 mm stem I am going to try (both relatively low rise). I’m thinking a riser handlebar might also help, but don’t really know much about them. I think I’ll try the stem first since I have it and if that helps maybe add a riser bar as well. No need for latest greatest, but decent quality. I’ve always preferred non-padded gloves, so I’ve going to give some padded gloves a try as well. So is this new geometry better, or am I just throwing money away? Thanks for any thoughts.
John
P.S. I use to read all the mt bike mags and know all the latest stuff, but that was a long time ago…