Been getting pain in just my right hand. At the base, in the fat bit on little finger side. Dull aches after riding and sharp oain climbing out of the saddle. Its wierd as I did tour of black country recently and my hand was fine despite it having around 20 km of rough tracks but then a week later a fast 40km blast leaves me sore. Anyone got any ideas?

Change your bar tape to lizard skins 2.5 or 3.5mm

I have gel inserts under the bar tape so not sure thats the issue.

Bars slightly out of whack causing a weird grip position?

Change your bar tape to lizard skins 2.5 or 3.5mm

Incidentally, I believe I was told to MTFU on a recent thread when I asked about doing this. But I would agree with the advice. I have put on more comfortable bar tape, and it has made a real difference to my delicate paws.

has someone looked at your position on the bike – do you have too much weight on your hands? – I had a friend who used a ridiculous saddle on a tour and suffered long lasting nerve damage in his hand due to the odd posture / additional weight on his hands caused by the weird saddle

Drops or hoods? Bars a little too far away or low is my normal diagnosis. Bar tape may help, but normally it is position putting too much weight through parts of the hand.

Its a Giant Defy and I got fully measured and fitted up so dont think its bike set up. I have hip problems so favour an upright position. I think due to this I relax onto the hoods less and keep hands on the flats more… the odd thing is that its only when getting out of the saddle I feel it on the bike.

I get a dull ache after long rides on the outside part of my palm. I think it is because on longer rides i’ll ride more with my arms locked out rather than bent at the elbow to save fatigue in my triceps and lower back. On short rides i’ll ride a bit lower with my arms bent and a bit more lent over. I guess with my arms locked out i’ve got more weight on the palms and i’m lacking the ‘suspension’ of my elbow and lower back and road vibration and bumps are transmitted straight up through my palm. I try to change my hand position frequently now, going down into the drops, palms flat over the top of the hoods rather than on the hoods in the traditional position, and even time with the hands on the flat part of the bars. I’ll find out if this is effective after my next long ride.

Locked elbows are a sign of poor fit leading to all sorts of hand, wrist and neck trouble, also try and relax the death grip if you have one. Gel bar tape and mitts also help absorb a lot of buzz as does not pumping tyres to over 100psi.

are you maybe gripping the bars too hard and tensing

Have a similar issue to you and plan to try these

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/clothing/gloves/product/review-specialized-grail-short-finger-gloves-49570/

Is the saddle dead parallel to the ground? Check it with a spirit level, might help

Seat is parallel to ground. I think its me focussing on being upright to open my hips so not using the hoods as much. I might try a shorter stem or just move the hoods on the bars if I can.

Drop your front tyre pressure to 95 and use a nice quality smooth-riding tyre like a Veloflex Open Corsa, two for £54 from Ribble.

Check the bar angles too, if they are dragging your shoulders forwards by being to ‘angled’ it might cause pain.