[Closed] Numb hands, STW knowledge / logic check

Gloves, grips etc is often not the answer.

Basically you’re putting too much weight on your hands for too long.  This could be down to core strength and position or it could simply be bike fit.

A set of bar ends to give you more hand positions may be a workaround if you can’t sort the position out - usually you’ll want spacers under the stem to bring the hand position up, but it’s a bit of a mine field as that’s not really going to help if the issue is caused by other position problems.

ive had some luck with the ergon grips with stubby bar ends built in.  Gives a couple more options in hand position as well as spreading the load on the palms.  Didn't solve it completely but helped me a lot

Edit: no idea why that is bold but I've given up caring. This forum will eventually work I hope

Are you able to drop your seat a fraction? That will transfer a bit of weight from your bars to your saddle. Marginal gains and all that . . .

Ride the whole route no-handed? Those mahoosive wheels will surely have enough gyroscopic effect to keep you upright through most stuff?

Tip the bars back a bit?  Higher bars?  the neutral angle for your wrist would have the bar running down and back to the outside at around 20 - 30 degrees both down and back.  Mary bars?
Could be pressure on the wrist causing compression of the nerves.

I'm a big fan of the Ergon-style grip.  I'm currently using a Giant version.

There's a fair bit of conflicting opinion on saddle angle.  I find tipping the nose down a bit is comfortable (back & neck) on the road bike  but it does lead to more weight through the hands.  However, there are several available hand positions available.

On the mountain bike I raise the nose to ease pressure on the hands.  But typically you spend less time in the same position on mountain bikes - unlike your London to Brighton ride.

Im also an ergon grip fan, they work for me.

On my most recent surly, however, i have used a short stem, and left the steerer tube longer than is normal for me, meaning the bars are higher.

i can use that bike with normal grips no problem, so basically higher, closer or ergon grips are your answers.

Ergon grips dont affect your body position, so won’t change handling. Also, closer can be achieved by a shorter stem, or bars with more sweep.

I am also of the opinion that new gloves etc aren’t really the answer, as noted above.

Also consider XLC GR-S04 grips (like Ergon) great for large hands German online stores stock them, also check your hand/wrist/forearm are all in a straight line (not palm up/down) when riding, the ergo grip angle can help enforce this.

What tyre pressure are you running? Higher pressures transmit a lot more vibration.

Sweep bars, Ergon grips and decent gel mitts have all but eliminated my numb hands - I've ridden my rigid fatbike 24 hours offroad - getting the weight off the bars / back onto the saddle

Over on the CTC forum, the first suggestion for this issue is always to slide your saddle back  a bit. This may  or may not mess up your leg/pedalling position, but does seem to take weight off your arms/hands and transfer it to your arse.

Are padded gloves a good idea? Just thinking about how big padded saddles, gel seat covers etc are popular for noobs but are horrible to ride on once your aris is used to cycling.

The advice above is all good and you definitely should think about your position, but it might just come down to getting more miles under your belt. If you're taking a step up in time / distance etc then you have to expect some resistance from your body until you adapt.

LOL great idea colournoise if I had those skills, no hills, no tech trails that could work 😉

Thanks for the smile if nothing else 🙂

James

Ok to try and feedback on all the questions and add some context.

I'm a 6'4 chap with 34" inside leg, saddle is full back on rail adjustment as far as it goes, saddle height is right as per a bike fit a year ago (and also feels right, did try a little up and a little down).

Have stem with all spacers under it, so no height to go up there.

Bike is an XL and I'm bang on mid band height (not that I really trust those sorts of guides, but the L felt small to me).

Tires run between 4psi and 7psi depending on where and weather so I doubt its reverb from tyres as I'm riding on a 4.8 round sofa 😉

The gloves are just Endura Humvee not some Halfords mega padded boxing love type affair - but that mental image made me laugh.

I did notice over the weekend that it is worse with prolonged downhill so it 'feels' like a weight forward issue, just not sure how to fix it.

Yes I am stepping up slowly, but gone from 20-30 mile ride to 40 mile ride not a massive shift and legs don't say otherwise, so suspect it is just spending more time in the saddle on each ride and hence showing the symptoms up.

I went for the none winged Ergon grips ( https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/ergon_ga2_fat_mtb_grips_2018-ID_74616) as I have bigger hands to go with height and hence thought that might help.

Sounds like my best / only option might be up or closer? Shorter stem or higher bars then?

Thanks for all the great questions, ideas and smiles - appreciated.

Keep them coming if you have any more ideas, all gratefully received.

James

Just to be clear, when i say ergon grips, i do mean the ones with the wings, because they spread the same load over a larger area.

if your stem is fully up, the next step is riser bars. Or a short stem. Or both.

It probably wont take a major change to remove pain and make it unnoticeable.

The one with the stubby bar ends are what worked for me. I originally had the regular 'winged' ones but swapped them and thatnextra riding position seemed to make the difference

Old skool rulz

Pushing the saddle back seems counterintuitive to me. Would have the same stretching out effect as a longer stem I think and put more weight on your hands. If it doesn't mess up other aspects of your bike fit, trying it more forward for a ride or two wouldn't cost anything.

An alternative to the Ergon grips, is the specialized contour xc grips, paired with specialized overendz' bar ends.

The bar ends are, in my experience, more comfortable than the ergons (I have both)

As mentioned above, getting the angle of the grips correct is important.

P.S. I would have posted links, but this new forum software really sucks

It's about balance, push the saddle forwards and you tend to tip forwards onto your hands.

OP, if is mostly on sustained downhill, could it not just be you gripping the bars too tightly.

One of the advantages of drop bars is that they offer multiple hand positions so even on long road rides you aren't going to get nerve problems to the same extent. Compare that with the in-vogue MTB bars that have basically one hand position and you can see where the problem originates (or is another factor). Ride around a trail centre for a couple of hours and you'll never notice that anything is wrong, it's only when you go for longer rides that things become apparent.

Look at shots of MTBs in the 1980s and you'll see lots of bar ends in use: mountain biking back then was more about longer distance rides on bridleways. (I'll ignore the messing about in woods on homebuilt trails that's always gone on)

The bar end has moved on a bit from these:

but the principles are the same. The Ergons mentioned by a couple of posters are much more subtle.

Have you tried different handlebars? It's surprising how much difference they make and are a pretty easy modification. When I built up my fat bike I managed to get a set of Jones Loop bars (carbon and unused) second hand to use on it. While they worked there was something not quite right about them and I've now swapped them out for a set of On-One Mary bars which feel a lot better.

layback seatpost?

Pushing the saddle back seems counterintuitive to me. Would have the same stretching out effect as a longer stem I think and put more weight on your hands. If it doesn’t mess up other aspects of your bike fit, trying it more forward for a ride or two wouldn’t cost anything.

One explanation as to why this maybe isn't as counterintuitive as it first sounds is as follows:

if you think of your position balanced around your feet you will put more weight on your hands when your saddle is further forward. You place less weight on your hands when the saddle is back because your bum, etc tends to act as counterweight to your torso and arms.

This is why touring bikes tend to have slacker seat tubes, so you can set the saddle back and focus on comfort rather than power. If you are racing, pedalling hard for extended periods, etc then a saddle further forward is ok because your pedaling action will keep weight off your arms anyway.  For touring and bikepacking etc that is not really the case.

Reach should really be adjusted by selecting stem length after you have set your saddle set back rather than by saddle set back alone.

I have tried to follow this logic and it seems to work.  It does fall down a bit when seeking to get weight far forward for riding steep hills off-road and not everyone agrees with it.

Your post got me thinking which these days of course leads to internet searching. I found this article on setting up a bike *. While you don't have to follow it, the supporting discussion is of interest. Since adjusting a particular element can then affect other bits of a bike fit it's very much an iterative procedure and you might end up adjusting things more than once as you narrow in on your ideal fit.

@gowerboy's process of fixing the saddle set back first does make sense, its intention is to prevent knee damage but following on from that it will put your CofG in roughly the right place so that you aren't putting undue pressure on your hands. The above article mentions your hands "hovering" on the handlebars.

* Of course this being the internet, it's just as likely that the next article in the search will contradict that one.