Technical > General Technical

The technicality you can't see: handlebar ergonomics & RSI

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Andre Jute:
Thorn and its bicycle owners spend a lot of time on bike fit, and rightly too. But proportionately very little of that time is spent on considering the ergonomics of handlebars. I think this is an oversight.

Like many here, I too use a short grip on the side with the Rohloff rotary control, so that my hand rests half on the grip and half on the pad of the original triangular Rohloff gear control.

While I find it convenient and pain-free, I'm hardly ever on the bike for more than an hour before I stop to sketch something, or take in the view, or wait for pedal pals. I cycle in leather dress gloves of a thickness and with thin linings appropriate to the season (silk, cotton, wool), no gel or padding, but even if there were gel in my gloves, I would reconsider this arrangement if I ever took to being hour after hour in the saddle, hands on the grips.

Repetitive stress injury from definitely anti-ergonomic, anti-kinesthetic, variable-pressure arrangements like these is a pretty serious consideration. Pins and needles, callouses on the cushion of your hand where it falls on the rotary grip, these are warning signs of more serious injury to come.

Yes, I know, drop bar users have several grip variations they can and do avail of. Positional variation is good, but I hardly consider any of the possible handholds on a drop handlebar to be anywhere near an ergonomic optimum; they merely temporarily transfer the pressure somewhere else. It's one of those bodges cyclists have come to accept because we've been doing it so long, not because we've put our brains in gear about it. Ameliorating the problem with foam or cork wrapping is not a solution, merely a postponement of the undesirable effects.

Danneaux:
Excellent points, Andre.

For the last 39 years (since 1984) I have ridden my favorite randonneur bike equipped with Morgan Grips, made by Morgan Concepts in Coer d'Alene, Idaho. Morgan Concepts first patented the idea  in 1983 for the lower portion of drop handlebars and by they marketed it, sections were available for the upper portion of the handlebars also, making a complete set. See...
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4522083A/en

I love them for my longer 300-400km day rides, especially for chip-sealed or gravel surfaces as they really do help absorb vibration and even on smooth roads, the ergonomic shape beats round handlebars.

Sadly, the company went out of business some time ago and no one picked up the ball to keep producing the grips once Morgan Concepts went under. What made the grips so fantastic was a) their ergonomic shape coupled with b) a clever system of shock-absorbing columns that soaked up vibrations. They were made of extremely durable urethane (mine have gone well over 56,000km on this bike) but had one fatal flaw for the roadie set -- they weighed 300g a set and were not so easy to install. The bottom sections slid on with a toluene-based glue to hold them in place, while the upper portion used the same glue coupled with some plastic jute or vinyl craft lacing. The grips were available in black, yellow, blue, and brown, perhaps other colors I don't now recall. My late father had a set in black and another in blue for his two bikes and loved them for his arthritic hands. I guess you could call them Ergon grips intended for drop handlebars. If only the "gravel bike" market had evolved sooner, they might still be available. Redshift Sports has picked up the basic idea in their Cruise Control Drop Bar Grips. See...
https://redshiftsports.com/products/cruise-control-drop-bar-grips

Lacking anything like Morgan Grips for many years, I installed thick, dense neoprene foam tubes, then compression-wrapped them with grippy handlebar tape. The foam and larger diameter help but not so much as the even hand supported by true ergonomic shapes.

Best, Dan

Andre Jute:
That Morgan patent application makes a super read, Dan. But it is quite clearly not a DIY project to copy their grip. Still, it is enough information to grasp in outline how it works and why your dad loved it. And you too. 300-400km per day! Never mind the wear and tear on the rest of you, you really need varied, ergonomically padded handgrips if you don't want to cripple your hands into claws.

My guess is the Morgan grips would be alive under your hands as they work to spread the pressure dynamically. Do you feel it or is it micro-movement?

***
I'm afraid that your dream of a manufacturer picking up the idea is not really practical after Morgan went out of business. My bet is that besides the outline drawings in the patent, you will need a real live human who remembers what was poured in what order -- that's the first essential, and the original molds would be very handy too.

Many products which are revived after the originators went out of business are blatant badge-engineering, at best workalikes, at worst nothing but the name on an entirely reinvented product because the blueprints are gone, the manufacturing knowhow of the line foreman and plant manager and mould-makers and hand-fettlers is gone, and because it is just plain cheaper to start from scratch.

I don't think something even modestly difficult to fit will make anyone's fortune by selling directly to today's cyclists. Something like the Morgan grips should be aimed at the OEM market where the component maker can piggyback on the bicycle manufacturer's advertising and credibility. Think of how Franklin Niedrich marketed the n'lock: he basically sold it to OEMs for upmarket bikes in a well-defined niche. His ventures into licensing people who wanted to sell it to DIYers were dangerous failures because the salesmen didn't understand what Diedrich, an engineer, did, that the most important thing about the n'lock was close supervision of the manufacture of a product with extremely close tolerances because otherwise there could be swingeing liability suits. It may interest you to know that I looked at an earlier version of the n'lock that Niedrich licensed to a French firm, and decided I was most definitely not giving those clowns my money to organise a face-plant for me by cheapening the manufacture of a good idea. I came back later when Niedrich designed a new version which, like a Chevrolet mouse-motor, resists even incompetence; in short, I waited to buy and, important, recommend the component, until I could be certain that the production was appropriately supervised, in the later case by the inventor himself.

The key takeaway is "marketed via OEMs with mechanics capable of fitting a product with such close tolerances".

Danneaux:

--- Quote ---My guess is the Morgan grips would be alive under your hands as they work to spread the pressure dynamically. Do you feel it or is it micro-movement?
--- End quote ---
This is difficult to answer, Andre, given different road surfaces produce different levels of vibration. I think I can best answer by saying under the weight of hand pressure, the columns/walls deform into a gentle S-shape and these are then in a better configuration to absorb bigger hits. So...dynamic deformation and micro-to macro movement depending on the road surface. These deformable walls have always recovered and the grips feel firm under hand. Apart from their shock-absorbing capability, they do have a "different" feel because their ergonomic shape spreads pressure over a greater surface area.

I live in dread of mine "wearing out" though all I have done over these many years and miles is to wear off the pebble grain where my hands rest most often. I did lose one pair in a crash that was enough to shred them as the bike slid along the pavement. The lowers of another pair did not survive removal and transfer to another bike...though it was possible with a different set.

Yes, long day rides are much less fatiguing if the rider is isolated from vibration; that's why my randonneur bikes are equipped with Thudbuster ST suspension seatposts (Short Travel models, due to limited clearance between horizontal tip tube and saddle clamp). It takes the edge off chip-sealed pavement and such and I find I finish feeling fresher than I do with rigid seatposts over the same distance. Alex Moulton also felt suspension was of great help in reducing rider fatigue, especially with the small-diameter wheels used on his separables.

Best, Dan.

JohnR:
It's a shame that the Thudbuster has zero setback or I could get interested as I'd like more comfort on roads with patched tarmac. The other alternative is a sprung saddle such as the Brooks Flyer. I've got one on the garage but it won't coexist happily with my preferred saddle packs (and adds significant weight). It's time that someone invented a lump of rubber to fit between saddle and seatpost. 5mm travel would be sufficient to improve comfort.

I've been using Ergotec AHS handlebars with Ergon GP1L grips for several years and can cycle as far as I want to go in a day without discomfort as they provide two main hand positions. They don't however, have a very high load rating.

A bike's primary suspension is the tyres. I can feel a noticeable improvement when on 50mm tyres compared to 40mm while 30mm gives a noticeably harsher ride. I put some on the bike out of curiousity expecting I would see a speed benefit but that didn't materialise, perhaps because I subconsciously went slower on the rough surfaces due to the reduced comfort. The tyres in these unscientific tests are all Schwalbe G-Ones running tubeless.

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