Pins and Needles after 5 miles, is this fixable

yo1200yo

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Help, I have been getting pins and needles in my hands after around 5 miles, does'nt matter if heated grips are on or off. Bike is pretty standard 2007 model GS. I don't suffer this on my Harley Electraglide!!
Is there anything I can do to reduce the vibes other than grip puppies (I'd like to retain the full heat of the grips as I will be riding to work during winter at 5.00 AM)

Cheers Ady
 
Might be worth looking at bar risers to raise up and back. Grip puppies work to an extent and Rox do damped raisers.

If it still continues Go and speak to the doctor and get checked out for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - it's a relatively easy Op to have done if you have it and for me it has made a huge difference.
 
yo1200yo said:
Help, I have been getting pins and needles in my hands after around 5 miles, does'nt matter if heated grips are on or off. Bike is pretty standard 2007 model GS. I don't suffer this on my Harley Electraglide!!
Is there anything I can do to reduce the vibes other than grip puppies (I'd like to retain the full heat of the grips as I will be riding to work during winter at 5.00 AM)

Cheers Ady
Click to expand...
We haven't a lot to go on. Have you only got the bike recently? Have you got it a long time and this has just happend? I've never had this problem. 5 miles. That's very little time for this to happen. Jjh
 
Standard bars with standard bar end weights and standard seat? Are the mirrors clear? Mine he'd a patch of vibration around 4500 to 5000 revs, that's gone now the bike is decatted and Hilltopped. Some idea of your size would help. I guess this is a new problem for you, and you are new to the GS? It could be the bike, has it been serviced recently and do you fully trust whoever did the work? Or it could be your riding position making things worse.

I've ridden an electraglide and I admit I was surprised at how smooth it was, mirrors clear at all speeds.
 
May be your position causing neck problems. Does you shoulders and neck ache after a few hours
 
I suffer from this as well. Grip puppies is next on the list for me. Either a remap or a power commander to try and smooth the running.
I have tried octane booster (a long shot) in the hope it would "neaten" the combustion and lead to less vibes, to no avail.
I am looking into learning to live without my thumbs long term as I really like my GS but there has to be a fix for this.
I draw the line at surgery.
 
Could be gloves restricting blood, or loose soft gloves meaning you have to have a tight grip? The heated grips work best with thinnish gloves.
 
I had the same when I bought my GS turned out the bars had been moved forward away from the standard setting. I didn't find this out until I rode Avancedbikers GS and the difference was unbelievable. I put my bars back to the standard position, no neck ache, shoulder ach or tingly arms.
 
The grips on your Harley will no doubt be much thicker - the 12 has thinner grips which, without realising, you might be gripping too hard - try easing off and see it helps.
 
Do you only get it on the bike? It could be a sign of carpal tunnel syndrome. I have it but not too bad
 
I have the same issue on a similarly aged, 6,000 mile 1200 GS. Hands going numb in a very short period of time.
 
Valve clearance correct and throttles balanced do nothing to fix primary engine vibrations though they help it to pull smoothly at low revs.
Poor posture round shoulders the effects of old neck whiplash affect the nerves into arms. The brachial artery and main nerves run over first rib and under collar bone. If the mechanics are messed up by posture the bundle gets compressed. Cold hand tingling fingers forearm cramps are all signs.
 
Bin Ridin said:
Could be gloves restricting blood, or loose soft gloves meaning you have to have a tight grip? The heated grips work best with thinnish gloves.
Click to expand...

I had numb hands in about 20 minutes when I first moved to my GS when I had no issues on my previous bike. It turns out that the cuffs on my gloves, although they didn't feel tight, was squeezing something. I put it down to the different geometry of bars, seat and pegs. Leaving the cuff completely open made it pretty much go away... I got new gloves.
 
Stonker said:
Do you only get it on the bike? It could be a sign of carpal tunnel syndrome. I have it but not too bad
Click to expand...

I had the same thing ten years ago. My Doc is a biker and told me it was carpal tunnel syndrome.

I had the op and it worked 100%. After tests I was told I'd it in my left hand too but not as bad. I'd need an op in the future.

Well it bothers me of late, but only when riding the bike.... So I will be needing the left hand done soon.

My Doc had a conclusive test..... I thought it was in all of my fingers and thumb, but he said carpal tunnel only affects 3.5 fingers.


Next time you have the sensation, run something ( metal bit of your key or a pen ) along the outside of your fingers to see if you can feel it.... My baby finger and the inside of my ring finger still had feeling, whilst the rest were numb. Carpal tunnel syndrome!

The Radial nerve runs down the inside of your forearm... It passes through a narrow 'tunnel' or hole in the wrist. If things get a bit tight in there it traps the nerve a bit and causes pins and needles or loss of sensation.

I'm no Doctor, but just a Tosser giving my lay version of what it might be and how my GP diagnosed it. But he pointed out that several of his other bike pals had all developed it.
 
JJH said:
We haven't a lot to go on. Have you only got the bike recently? Have you got it a long time and this has just happend? I've never had this problem. 5 miles. That's very little time for this to happen. Jjh
Click to expand...

Had the bike around 6 months and it's always done it, Thanks

Greenman14 said:
Standard bars with standard bar end weights and standard seat? Are the mirrors clear? Mine he'd a patch of vibration around 4500 to 5000 revs, that's gone now the bike is decatted and Hilltopped. Some idea of your size would help. I guess this is a new problem for you, and you are new to the GS? It could be the bike, has it been serviced recently and do you fully trust whoever did the work? Or it could be your riding position making things worse.


I've ridden an electraglide and I admit I was surprised at how smooth it was, mirrors clear at all speeds.
Click to expand...

yep all standard on the bars, it does have a smooth spot around 3200-3400rpm. Lets just say I'm short and stocky, I had a 2005 RT a few years ago with no problems. It does have service history from a BMW Motorrad dealer??? and to be perfectly honest I think I could do with some pullback risers of some sort!! Thanks

Sunny Jim said:
The grips on your Harley will no doubt be much thicker - the 12 has thinner grips which, without realising, you might be gripping too hard - try easing off and see it helps.
Click to expand...

I'll give it a go thanks

Thanks for all your ideas, I really like my GS apart from this problem, yes I suppose I could get a new WC one but I really wanted this one cos of the relative simplicity of home servicing, does that make sense??

Ady
 
I'm a fan of overgrips - I decided my new bike, a Tracer, forced me to grip the bars more than I liked as the grips seemed too thin. So, to increase the diameter I got hold of a set of Grip Puppies. This has made the bike more comfortable as I don't need to bend my ailing joints so much to get a decent enough grip to twist the throttle.

Grip Puppies are available on Amazon & Ebay but there are alternatives, often sold by cycling shops.

Grip Puppies are easy to swap from one bike to another as I had to do this when upgrading to heated grips. They work fine with the heated grips, too.

The other thing to bear in mind, it is best to adjust the bars so you can form a straight line from your elbow, down your arm, through your wrist to the tip of your fingers by resting your palm on the top of the hand grip
 
The BMW bar sweep angle over-loads the outer sides of my hands and causes my thumb joints to really ache on a long run.
Sensation in 1/2 of ring finger and little finger is the ulnar nerve. That's the funny bone nerve in elbow. It runs through Tunnel of Guyon on outer wrist side of the palm. It does not get compressed with median nerve.
Radial nerve supplies the forearm muscles.
A boring book by Warren Hammer will help choose the tests to properly diagnose where the problem lies.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is regularly diagnosed but is often not the real problem area. Don't go having the CTS operation before ruling out spine, neck, shoulder and postural syndromes.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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