I don’t do any proper mountain biking, but I have a Trek Marlin that I ride on bike trails with my son and will use as a trainer bike. I’m used to being able to switch through various hand positions with my drop bar bike on the trainer, so I find it a bit difficult to stay just on the grips on the Trek.
Can any one recommend other options? I guess I could hold the bars near the stem similar to riding on the tops but they feel a bit skinny and that only lasts for a few minutes. Are there accessories worth looking into?
The relatively simple and cheap option are old school “bar ends”. They can be found in a variety of lengths and shapes. Sometimes they are in places like Walmart for dirt cheap too.
I rode the outboard ones back in the 90’s as child of the first MTB boom. I never tried them inside.
Depends on what you want. Considering you come from a roadie background, the outer position makes sense to me, but for a trainer setup, anything goes. You could try whatever is easy and then swap if you don’t get enough relief from that.
Wrap could make sense, especially if you end up with sweaty hands, and some cushion too. You could always start without it, and add if you feel the need.
I just put some clip-on aerobars on my MTB on my trainer last night. They were surprisingly comfortable. I might have to get some skinny tires and take it out for some time trials. Okay, maybe not.
I use foam grips in adjacent my stem for a change of pace. You have to pull off your cockpit ends to do it, but the grips stretch enough to work with most bars and give you another position.
Ergon grips have helped with my outdoor numbness on the mtb. They might help indoors too. Here is a model with the grip, plus a bar end. GP5 – Ergon Bike
