Pain in left elbow

[Azrael]

I recently started riding an FZ6 after 3-4 years . My previous motorcycles were R6 (for track)and an RXZ (a South east Asia model only afaik) . After 3-4 days of riding, I noticed a sharp pain in the inside of my elbow that showed up only after I relaxed my left hand from the riding position.

Its been getting better from before, but I'm not sure what the cause might be. I caught myself gripping the bars way harder than I would so I consciously stop relax my grip whenever I catch myself. I also tried bending more at the elbows in case I was locking them too much. I also tried modifying my grip by shifting 1-2 inches to the outside of the bar, which also seems to help. I'm also open to the suggestion that I'm using muscles and tendons that atrophied a bit since I wasn't riding.

I have regular foam grips now that I am going to replace with Pro Grip Duo Density 721s, and maybe that will help.

I'm just curious whether anyone else seems to have this problem and how they managed to get over it (other than the "grin and bear it approach").

 

[Red Wazp]

Motrin can be your friend and relax on the grip and move your arm once in a while.

 

[Norbert]

maybe bar risers?

 

[motojoe122]

If you have the stock bars that may be the cause of the pain, they have a funky bend to them. I had similar issues and thought it was just me. Once I talked to other forum members I found it to be a common issue. Later I switched to FZ1 bars...no more problems.

 

[Azrael]

If you have the stock bars that may be the cause of the pain, they have a funky bend to them. I had similar issues and thought it was just me. Once I talked to other forum members I found it to be a common issue. Later I switched to FZ1 bars...no more problems.

I actually did research this and found a bunch of people who had problems with the stock bars and switching to the FZ1 bars helped. Maybe this is worth a shot.

 

[LesL60]

Heck, I got tennis elbow (tendonitis) from playing my guitars! Lasted a year. Get the compression band, ice, stretch, rest it, and tough it out - only thing that worked for me. It's so easy to tweak parts doing "normal" things as we get less young or attempt once common activities after a lay off.

 

[vinmansbrew]

The fz1 bars are lower though aren't they? That may actually put more stress on things.
I guess I like the fz6 bar, aside from being lower, a bit more forward, and slightly narrower; I am reminded of my cb750 bars.
Thats why I decided on bar risers instead of a new bar.

 

[Azrael]

I've heard good things about Renthal 755s too so maybe that's worth a bit of research as well.

 

[Nelly]

Are the bars straight?

Nelly

 

[hk_fz6_05]

I think the above posts more or less covered it, but just to sum up I've had the same feeling in my elbows and just now realized that my bars were a big part of the problem b/c of the very funky twist. Also I don't know how tall you are, but if you're above say 6'5" you might want to think about bar risers (though I don't ride with them myself).

think about the postion of your hands at rest and how much your arms/elbows have to adjust to accomodate that. If your wrists are pretty straight on your lower arms with no strain on your elbow you're fine, otherwise you'd prbly want to adjust/change your bars.

 

[Azrael]

Are the bars straight?

Nelly

Its funny you ask that. There's always been a slight deviation that I have to make to keep the bike straight for the last weeks that I'm beginning to think is getting worse. At this point it doesn't look like the forks to me, but most probably the triple trees or the handlebars. If anyone can tell me a quick way to test for handlebar symmetry, that would be great. I'm probably going to swap the bars anyway, but knowing what the problem is would make me much happier.

PS - I got the bike second hand and the previous owner was upfront about an accident she had that did some damage to the front fairing. It looked cosmetic to me, but maybe that's a factor.

 

[Azrael]

I think the above posts more or less covered it, but just to sum up I've had the same feeling in my elbows and just now realized that my bars were a big part of the problem b/c of the very funky twist. Also I don't know how tall you are, but if you're above say 6'5" you might want to think about bar risers (though I don't ride with them myself).

think about the postion of your hands at rest and how much your arms/elbows have to adjust to accomodate that. If your wrists are pretty straight on your lower arms with no strain on your elbow you're fine, otherwise you'd prbly want to adjust/change your bars.

I've ridden quite some bikes and I have to agree on the funkiness. They're probably the most uncomfortable stock handlebars I've used, which is a pity on an otherwise amazing bike. I'm 6'0'' which really isn't that far off the average.

 

[OneTrack]

Its funny you ask that. There's always been a slight deviation that I have to make to keep the bike straight for the last weeks that I'm beginning to think is getting worse. At this point it doesn't look like the forks to me, but most probably the triple trees or the handlebars. If anyone can tell me a quick way to test for handlebar symmetry, that would be great. I'm probably going to swap the bars anyway, but knowing what the problem is would make me much happier.

PS - I got the bike second hand and the previous owner was upfront about an accident she had that did some damage to the front fairing. It looked cosmetic to me, but maybe that's a factor.

Just a thought...but I can tell you from experience that the OEM bars on an FZ6 are as soft as butter...they can bend quite easily.
I also developed pain in my wrists and elbows until I swapped my bars for FZ6R bars. They're not so radical a change as the FZ1 bars; they cant forward about 1" at the ends, which straighten out my wrists and allow me to 'unlock' my elbows, so they angle outward slightly. Way better, no pain.

 

[turbid]

the bars on my fz are slightly bent. i ll get some pics tomorrow and post them here to show you the difference

so basically put the wheel straight and you should see the levers are not level and the bar ends are not level as well.

also rotate the wheel to full lock, one of the bar ends sits closer to tank and clears the emblem on the tank, the other sits higher and sits in the middle of the emblem. also when on full lock (eg wheel is on full lock to the right) the bar on the left sits closer to the fairing than on the other side

of course this is my particular case, but if you put the wheel straight it should give you an indication if the bar is bent or not. i couldnt beleive the bar was bent as i have seen no paint chipping so when i gave it to a friend to ride it, he told me the bar is torqued. i ordered a new bar ( i ll post a thread when it arrives - its a yamaha bar but not fz1 or fz6r bar )