Hi guys, I commute on myTE630 for the first time today. it's fun. The bike handles really well in slow moving traffic. It's much better than my expectation .. frankly, I was expecting the ride to be difficult but turned out it's not. One thing that I notice... and I need your advice here... is that after only about 10 minutes or so, my right hand starts to feel a bit numb. It doesn't go completely numb, but I can feel slight numbness there. I've adjusted the control (both left and right) so that while sitting, my forearms, hands and the brake and clutch levers are pretty much in a straight line. My first thought is it's the brake lever that cause it. That's it's just a bit too far for my fingers to reach comfortably. On my Monster, I also had similar problem, numb right hand ... but after I replaced the stock levers with an adjustable ones and keep my weight off my wrist (by gripping the tank with my knees) I no longer have the problem. But I sit upright on the TE and I don't think my hands/wrists are supporting my weight. What would you advise me to do? Thanks in advance bob
Are your fingers on the brake lever all the time? And are you gripping the twist grip with too much force? You can get shorty levers that only one or two fingers are necessary to activate.
My 610 and I have the same issue, hands can get numb at highway speeds for long periods of time. Keep your hands loose on the bars. Don't close your hands, rather let them sit on the bars loosely with a finger to cover the front brake. You're on a TE so your front brake is not a grabby as mine on the SM version. You can try some kind of bar anti-vibe tricks like a bar snake or rubber mounts for the bar clamps etc., they help some, but you'll never totally get rid of the vibes from a big single cyl motor with no rubber mounts! Same issue on my 525 KTM and I have a rubber sub mount for the bars, it does help some.
The TE630 already has rubber- mounted 'bars. If you are not riding n the dirt (standing), try rocking the bars back in their clamps. This will not only relax your elbows more, but change the angle of the grips so that they are at a flatter, more backwards angle. (Slightly less thumbs-down, thumbs-back). A little change to this angle can make a big difference.
Thanks guys. Sizzler, I just adjusted the handlebar... I pulled it backward a little bit and also adjusted the levers so my index and middle fingers, when covering the brake lever, are more horizontal. Hopefully this will fix it. Thanks. One more thing, I put the rubber cover back to the foot pegs. I removed them earlier and the past several days I rode without the rubber pegs cause I was afraid that the rubbers would make the pegs slippery. Without the rubber the peg feels "grippy" but I find that the tip of the rear brake lever is difficult to reach, cause the position is higher than the surface of the RH side foot peg. With the rubbers back on, it looks like they're at the same level now.
I thought about doing that too, but frankly I was too lazy late night ... so I did what was the easiest thing to do
When I switched to my 610 I noticed the bars were narrower and had more sweep than my previous bike. During road riding I felt a lot more pressure on my inside fingers, especially thumb and forefinger, and they sometimes became numb. At first I thought about swapping bars or changing bar angle. But riding offroad I discovered that in attack position or while standing my hands were just right. So I got into the habit while street riding of raising my elbows and rotating them outwards a bit - it was awkward and more effort at first, but it fixed the numbness and I now feel it improves my alertness too. I kept the stock bar setup. Its worth exploring all the variables, especially ones you can change for free!
Thanks JonDirt, I will try that. This is my first DS bike and I'd never ridden one before... I'm eager to learn all the dual sport riding technique I can. I still can't ride it as much as I'd like to, I can't ride far or out of town, cause it's still doesn't have license plate yet ... it's still in registration process, hopefully next week it'll be completed.
