You do know you can buy wings with handles and or use a harness 
This cannot be comfortable with the cable tie sticking out.
You know Hilly some might say cutting the tips of your Armstrong foils is laughable but we all choose to modify our gear to suit our needs, I love the mods to my smik wing .
The thread is about sore hands. Doesn't the cable tie make it uncomfortable to use the first handle? Simple question
There is cloth tape over the join ,I rebated the tube around the handle this reduced the overall width so it's barely noticeable when using the front handle witch I use all the time, I don't suffer from sore hands but was struggling with the hand switch during transitions, so now I can just grab the mini boom and then slide my hand up to the front handle once my other hand has moved.
I went from handles to a boom and started getting rubbing between my thumb and index finger from pumping the wing to get on foil.
Had these old weightlifting gloves lying around and tried them on the water and they worked great. They dry pretty quickly too.
Not suggesting go out and buy these but if you had them lying around they work great and your fingers are still free so doesn't impact your feel when flying and holding the wing lightly with your finger tips.
Here is a process to upgrade your handles to super luxurious padded handles. Some assembly required.
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=2412130
