Questions on handlebar set up / arm pump.

Learn to point your toes in, stand on the balls of your feet and grip with your legs when braking, accelerating and cornering and jumping.  Typically arm pump is a symptom of overgripping and squeezing with your arms.  

Maybe try a straighter bar so your wrists aren't at an awkward angle. Also, use a fat bar style bar

Move the perches in so your fingers extend on a natural angle to your sweetspot in the lever. 

When sitting on the bike in a neutral position, put your hands on the bars in a riding position, then extend your fingers - that's generally where you want your levers as far as angle. Make sure you're not reaching too far with whatever finger(s) you use. If you can, adjust the levers closer/further away. If I don't have my front brake lever in the second knuckle on my finger I feel like its too far out and hard to control and I get arm pump almost immediately. 

If you're like me and have the hands of a 7 year old girl, use the thinnest full diamond grips you can find. I even have my throttle tubes machined.

Set your sag and then try and find a nice balance in the bike coming into and out of corners by adjusting that, the fork height and HS on the shock. This is so that you can let the bike do the work without the rear end driving your weight through your arms to the bars/front end during heavy braking.

Tighten your steering up. 

Sometimes coming out on the rebound a click or two can help. 

Maybe some rubber mounted bar mounts.

Bars in middle neutral position. Renthal Half waffle grips. 

Continue working on your technique (especially your breathing), strengthen your legs and core muscles…proper technique, with proper breathing and loose hands, loose wrists, loose elbows, loose shoulders…unless you’ve got a physiological issue with your forearms, they will solve your arm pump problem…grips, bar bends, whatever are only a tiny part of the problem.  

This /\ is the way.  Changing bars and grips won’t help the issue much.  It’s very likely a fitness/breathing/technique issue 

Well I’ll add that I tried some ACF bars that were SX Race bend and they immediately gave me arm pump. I went back to my Evo Suzuki bend bars and doubled my moto lengths. I hope this doesn’t hurt more than it helps but try some flatter bars that don’t kink your wrists, dial your form in, and use those knees. 

I just did this because of severe arm pump issues and it helped me. I saw a video on YT that said lining up the bars with the angle of the forks, in addition to all the basics (good arm, legs, forward body positioning, bike setup, seat time, breathing, hydration, proper riding technique, fitness etc).. helps reduce arm pump. No one thing will cure it, but it did help me bringing the bars back. Just my .02

If you have twinwalls throw them in the trash and put a fat bar on. Problem solved

I just changed from standard gasgas bars, odi grips to. Protaper sx race bend bars, standard soft grips. Heaps heaps better.

I think it’s fair to say more people can benefit from moving their bars further back than forwards. Give it a try and see how it feels. It made standing and staying forward on the bike easier for me 

What is your warmup routine?

Great advice already, definitely squeeze bike with legs to relax grip, finding comfortable bar bend is trial & error. One thing that gives me arm pump almost immediately are grips that are to thick, I like thin grips, like renthal full diamond.

I'm 6ft, kind of long arms. I've been pretty good at avoiding arm pump, run a pretty neutral set up. 

Normally ride KTM but swapped to Kawasaki almost two years ago. I was suffering from arm pump like crazy, it was bizzare to me. Then I put the bar mounts in the forward hole (Opposite of what I normally would do) and next ride was instantly better and I'm good to go now. Never had a bar position make such a difference. 

Finding the right bar and grip it’s important. I always run the thin grips (no waffle) from Renthal..

As mentioned above- warm up is important. I’ll do a couple easy laps and come in and relax for a bit. Then head out and hit it harder and rarely get much arm pump..

First motos go slow. I can do a bunch of warmups and stretches. But once I start riding, if I try to go full speed, I get tight. Just 10 minutes scoping out the track getting my mind dialed in for riding, I stay loose all day.

Breathwork is a game changer, as it will benefit every other aspect of training and life. 

The rest is all a bonus. 

I had arm pump for years and just thought it was a part of moto  if you”re out of shape. I now never have arm pump and credit leaning forward when accelerating. I have to constantly remind my self of this, but I can “un-pump” my arms mid moto by remembering to lean forward. It really works for me. If I don’t lean forward I have to death grip the bars to keep myself from falling off the back of the bike. Leaning forward and I am lightly holding the grips, no arm pump. 

This is an important part of proper technique…lean forward, but keep your knees behind your toes….this means you have to bend at the waste…this will keep your hips back, and allow you to lean into the acceleration without stressing your arms.

Hey I’m curious has anyone got any feedback on using 7/8” bars? 7/8” bars compared to fat bars and so on. 

I lay my bars back, never arm-pump in 20 years of MX. I also point my levers down, stronger wrist & fingers when elbows up. I converted any fat-bar clamp I've ever had to 7/8.

Guys have had good luck using flexx bars.

Evo bars and buy a rowing machine. The latter made all the difference in the world for me . I would get arm pump looking at the damn bike once I started rowing it's all but gone 

First thing anyone with armpump should try is to roll back bars. It's physical thing. I have had armpump surgery, and stil can't roll up the bars. 

Second is grip size. I need rental triple diamond grips. Small grips, and I get armpump right away

Unlock the hips. 

Try this for Arm Pump - https://ridersgold.com/product/n-m-p/

I'm saying this as a genaral comment.

I'm conviced that the majority of people suffering from armpump are suffering from it because of bad riding technique. I've seen guys that basically live in the gym and on the road bikes (way above average fitness) and they get armpump the second they start pushing because the base technique and posture is not right. Then they tell themselves that they need to work even more off the bike 😄

Long story short, get somebody to film you riding and take some riding lessions from someone reputable. 

I have a lot of experience with this.  Last year at this time I was 260lbs and from then to prob. the previous 5 years I couldn't ride more than 2-3 laps without getting super sketchy and I felt like I couldn't hang on.  Heart rate was screaming, breathing was intense.  I tried different bar positions, riding more, riding slower, lots of cardio.  All of these things made minor changes but overall, nothing ground breaking.  I lost 70lbs and I started spending a lot of time lifting weights.  I didn't do much "specific" forearm/grip training but just the overall time spend holding weight in my hands doing all sorts of exercises, slowly made a big change.  Its an overall thing.  Yes you need to be in good cardiovascular shape but strength training should not be overlooked.  This past saturday I did 2 30 min motos, a 20, and then at the end of the day I did a 62 min moto.  Not trying to brag whatsoever but I'm just telling you, the fun it brings to be able to ride for longer lengths of time is huge.  Def. spend some time strength training.  Its been the key for me.

There's a lot of good info on here but the main take away should be....there is no one answer. 

Just make sure you're taking vitamins/supplements (might be worth getting a blood test first), doing some sort of warm up, working out (both cardio and weights), and setting your bike up properly. The bike set-up includes correct sag, clickers, fork height. You will be surprised how much your suspension could be inducing arm pump if it's set-up wrong. Find the stock setting for you bike and test from there. 

Once all that stuff is dialed.....just breathe. This is supposed to be fun. Start your day with doing 60% laps (after your warm up) and just keep riding as long as you can, safely that is. Once you get a medium pump, take a break and do some stretching. If that's 1 or 2 laps in...who cares. Trust the process and you'll get it worked out in no time. Rushing it is just like pissing into the wind.

As far as equipment, smaller diameter grips, flatter/less swept bars, and properly maintained cables/front brake all make a difference. Your problem is probably a mixture of bike setup, fitness, andriding technique/just getting amped up too much. Don't buy into one product being the solution.