Grip Weights

[tmassey]

i too had to numbing affect...i bought a pair of finger less weder weight lifting gloves with gel padding in the palm...now i have no numbing....just my 2 cents

terry

[Troll]

This isn't a veiled reference about Depends, is it?

[John Hopkins]

Gettin' old is a real pain...but it beats the only currently available alternative...

Only up to a point! and certainly not at the cost of your dignity..

John

[Troll]

Gettin' old is a real pain...but it beats the only currently available alternative...

[DriftinGirl]

That's kinda how mine started. I can go way back to like 2002, when I first noticed hand weakness and loss of dexterity. I was doing an ERC and I almost dropped the bike during the demos...made me a little nervous. As it progressed, the pain would keep me awake at night, and then finally the hands started to swell up enough that I couldn't get my gloves on after a day of work. Jan of '06 I finally stopped wrenching because I couldn't hold onto tools anymore. I got a job as a parts delivery driver so I had some income, and then I had the surgery in '07...now I am on SSD...I'm not going into all of it, BUT...be careful about what you do about it. I suspect that if I would have had the procedures about 5 years earlier, they might have been successful...just waited too long. If you really suspect you have the problem, you need to be diagnosed. I've had enough EMGs that I could probably do one myself. You won't like the test one bit...what they do is test the resistance and response time of the nerves in the hand and arm....by passing an electric current through the nerve...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromyography

I"m picking up what you're throwing down. My hands feel about the same as yours sound. Cause is rheumatoid arthritis... ligament to left thumb eroded and broken off (thank goodnes for self cancelling signal lights) and on right ulnar entrapment...pain right up to upper arm if I use hand too much. Surgery rarely helps...heard this from so many patients that I won't even consider it. And early or late doesn't seems to make a difference. Ice, splints, and keep it for the important stuff. Mostly learn to live with it and realize it is just the price of having a life!! 

[Troll]

  That's kinda how mine started. I can go way back to like 2002, when I first noticed hand weakness and loss of dexterity. I was doing an ERC and I almost dropped the bike during the demos...made me a little nervous. As it progressed, the pain would keep me awake at night, and then finally the hands started to swell up enough that I couldn't get my gloves on after a day of work. Jan of '06 I finally stopped wrenching because I couldn't hold onto tools anymore. I got a job as a parts delivery driver so I had some income, and then I had the surgery in '07...now I am on SSD...I'm not going into all of it, BUT...be careful about what you do about it. I suspect that if I would have had the procedures about 5 years earlier, they might have been successful...just waited too long. If you really suspect you have the problem, you need to be diagnosed. I've had enough EMGs that I could probably do one myself. You won't like the test one bit...what they do is test the resistance and response time of the nerves in the hand and arm....by passing an electric current through the nerve...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromyography

[greenbarn]

I believe (never Dr. diagnosed - that just raised your insurance) I have carpal tunnel on both sides, worse on the right.  Numbness in first three fingers, not the pinky.  Wake up that way, and it gets bad at times during the day depending on what I'm doing.  On the bike, it can start within 10 minutes of starting to ride.  So I use the throttle lock quite a bit.  And a cramp-buster.  I'm not sure the padded gloves would help much in my situation, but it's worth a try.

[Troll]

Carpal tunnel targets the median nerve, the ulnar nerve runs through your elbow..I have bilateral carpal tunnel that surgery did not fix, and a left side ulnar entrapment. On the right, thumb and first and second fingers are numb and tingling all the time, and the inside of the ring finger , but not the side next to the pinky....on the left, it's everything...wiring issues!

[DC]

Was going to comment PC that when I wore my neoprene gloves I had no numbness at all so need to find a pair of lightly padded gloves to solve the issue...

It's all about protecting the ulnar nerve.

I was having all sorts of nerve, pain and numbness problems in my hands from riding my mountain bike.  I went through all sorts of gloves to try to solve the problem.  Then I got a pair of neoprene fishing gloves and cut off the fingers.  Worked perfectly.  No more nerve problems.

[CDNRatMan]

  Was going to comment PC that when I wore my neoprene gloves I had no numbness at all so need to find a pair of lightly padded gloves to solve the issue...

[pcarrell]

I had some hand numbness issues at first, but I got some fingerless deerskin gloves with gel filled palms and that solved the issue completely......like $15 at a good biker leather store.

[chief]

Grip weights work on Harleys, but with Drifters they may not be of much use unless you have hard-mounted pipes or engine problems.

As has been indicated you are better off getting your handlebar position adjusted to eliminate bends and stress on your wrists. Also, throttle locks will REALLY, REALLY help wrist and hand fatigue. Even with the cruise control on the goldwing, a throttle "rocker" or lock is really helpful.

[griz01]

Hmmm.... I had recently considered asking the doc about the possibilities of surgery.  Maybe not.  Proves once again surgery is not always a "cure".

I can't get by an hour - my throttle hand starts to get numb in a few minutes.  I use a throttle lock and that gets me by.  But it would be nice to totally eliminate the issue...

Ironclad gloves - these are work-style golves, right?  never thought about that, but sounds like a good idea, maybe I'll look some of them up.

Ironclad Impact gloves are the one that have pads in the palm, work well for me. Dr told me to use them AFTER my surgery for riding.

[John Hopkins]

Grip weights are supposed to cut down on vibrations and there is a noticable vibration on my drifter, however I think most problems riders have is gripping the bars too tightly, the only time I grip the bars firmly is when riding over uneven ground or when leaning into a curve, most of the time my hands almost hover over the grips with my thumbs underneath, sometimes I rest one hand or the other on my leg just above the knee and rub my leg to get my hands warm, when I fitted my new heated grips I accidently used a fraction too much grip glue and this caused the throttle to be a bit tight, I thought I would ride like that for a few miles to see if it acted like a cruise control and to see if I liked it..1000 miles later and I am still riding with that tightness and find it makes a very useful cruise control, it's no bother to twist the throttle down to change gear and I can rest my right hand and still maintain a steady speed..

John.

[Pilgrim]

They are supposed to reduce high amplitude handlebar vibration...what ever that is.
I think it means the vibration caused by high RPMs

[greenbarn]

Hmmm.... I had recently considered asking the doc about the possibilities of surgery.  Maybe not.  Proves once again surgery is not always a "cure".

I can't get by an hour - my throttle hand starts to get numb in a few minutes.  I use a throttle lock and that gets me by.  But it would be nice to totally eliminate the issue...

Ironclad gloves - these are work-style golves, right?  never thought about that, but sounds like a good idea, maybe I'll look some of them up.

[Pilgrim]

well after I installed phat II risers and got the iso grips my numbness and tinglin went away. I was thinking less vibration on my handlebar mounted GPS would be cool.

[griz01]

Also had the carpel tunnel surgery,  don't. same result as troll. seems like any weight at the bars would reduce vibs. I now have IronClad brand of impact gloves seems to help me as much as anything else I have tried.

[CDNRatMan]

  Pilgrim, go and buy them and install them and then write a nice easy to read report, and list the pros and cons. I will bet that a lot of people will follow your advice and do what you suggest.

Ok this my cure my right hand numbness too.....

GreenBarn I have not felt nor noticed the vibrations on mine but my right hand does go numb after about an hour or so but not enough to panic or worry about, within seconds of stopping the numbness is gone. When I wear my neoprene gloves there is no numbness, so perhaps a padded palm on the glove is the answer.

[Troll]

  I had the surgery to repair my bilateral carpal tunnel in '07.....my advice is to live with it... wear a brace, adjust your handlebar angle so your wrist is straighter..get a throttle boss....6 years and I'm still waiting for the miracle cure...my hands now tingle all the time, the scar area is so sensitive I can't do push ups any more, and my grip strength is down to under 30 psi from 160.....and then there is the dropping things all the time.

[greenbarn]

Hmm, do you have much handlebar vibration??   I hadn't noticed much on mine, but maybe it does have a bit and I didn't notice.

I've never seen the weights, but by all means give us a report if you try them!  I'd be willing to spend $32 if it would lesson my hand-numbing issues.  I have carpal tunnel, and it's worse in the throttle hand....  sucks getting old...

[Pilgrim]

Before I spend $32 of my moldy money...do those grip weights really make a difference? I'm looking at the Kuryakyn weights for the ends of my ISO grips specifically. They claim to cut down on handlebar vibration significantly.