For many years now I have had very "clicky" joints in my fingers. Both hands. Many years ago I did my trade as a sheetmetal worker. We used to hand cut stainless steel with tin snips. 18 and 20 gauge sheet. I have known for sometime that this might all catch up with me. Sure enough it has, Around 2 years ago I thought I had broken a thumb. The pain was so bad. X-Rays showed no break. It did show that the joints of my fingers are riddled with Osteoarthritis. This is the most common form of arthritis, occurring when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones gradually wears away. It is a chronic, degenerative joint disease primarily affecting the hands, knees, hips, and spine. The damage is irreversible. I take rosehip powder in table form. This helps greatly with the swelling and pain.
The last 2 days of my ride home from the Royal Enfield Rally in June hurt my hands. I was using a set of replica BSA handlebars. These bars had me grip the handlers with weight on my hands. Even with Rosehip tablets I was in pain.
I knew I would have to ride with bars that do not have me leaning on my hands. After trying 2 sets of higher bars I was still not happy with the bars I tried. I needed height and a neutral position for my hands. Would you believe that I found this in a set of bars from Temu. Shock horror. Cheap junk you might think. Well no not at all with these bars. "Vintage Style 7/8'' 22Mm Motorcycle Drag Handlebars Suitable for Harley, for Honda, for Suzuki, Kawasaki, And Yamaha Cafe Racers And Trackers" is the title of them on Temu. The only thing with them, this is with all bars that are not made for Royal Enfield is that the knurling on the bars are for twin bar clamps that all other manufactures use. I will do another post on how I fitted them and how I finally fixed the original handlebar clamp.
https://www.temu.com/goods.html?_bg_fs=1&goods_id=601099513578024
The other thing I found when riding with grips that have vertical ribs for grip is that with thick winter gloves on I have to squeeze my hands more to maintain grip. This too was solved. This time via Aliexpress and a set of grips that have ribs that run horizontally.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006949986973.html
Out on the road to test this all today. Hands and arms are now in a relaxed position. No weight on my hands. Less pressure on my hands when I grip the grips.
Time and kilometres will tell if this is a long term solution.
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