Road Cycling - glove, aero bar. advice please

I went about 80 miles this morning and had a blast. This is the end of my second week with a road bike.
Bike performed well and there were no problems.

One nagging issue is hand numbness. I just read about 10 past threads on the subject here and have pretty much decided one thing I need to do is get better gloves.

Right now I have gel gloves from performance which I paid about $15 for.

I had numbness in my thumb, index, and pinkie, plus occasional needles and pins shooting up my arm.

I changed hand position often and shook them out with no sucess. The bike fits good and I kept my elbos bent and avoided a death grip on the bars.

I want to try the Specialized Pro Glove with "body geometry" based on recomendations in another thread.

If ya can think of a reason not to upgrade my gloves let me in on it.

Is the Specialized glove going to improve my comfort over the cheapos at performance? Im pretty impressed with the specialized turbo armadilo tires so Im inclined to think their products deliver what they promise.

another thing Im strongly considering is aero bars.

One thread here mentioned that the reason they were invented was to get weight off the hands on long straight hauls, I guess reduced drag was just a perk.

The roads Im going to ride on around here are pretty much flat and straight. Im not going to be n big groups of riders either. Just lil ol me trying to get in better and beter shape.

the only solid comment about clip on bars I found was for Syntace C2 Clip Ultralite. They are $118 at performance. I havnt found many bars that were under $100.

If Im going to spend $100+ Im not going to worry about a few bucks.

What is a good aero bar for sub $150 level?

Wil the aero bars help my hand problems?

Thanks for your advice.

Jeff

The glove thing is a personal thing. I like the pearl Izumi gel gloves but can't wear other gloves for they are too tight.

The Aero bar question is Yes they are good to change your hand and arm position but the main reason to use Aero bars is for the less drag by putting your arms out in front of you. They are usually good for a 1-2mph increase in speed after you get familiar with them. I use the Syntace C2 and love them no complaints at all. Check ebay for a set. The only thing is you have to know the size they come in 3 sizes.

I have used the Specialized glove . I switched to the Pearl Izumi gloves and think they have a better fit and fell than the Specialized glove. I did not use the Gel gloves, they feel to thick to me. I don't think the gloves will solve all the problem, it takes time for hand to get use to supporting the body. I would give yourself a few more weeks before I would jump the gun. I know some people that ride with no gloves for hours.
As for the aero bars, I have only used them twice in a TT and hated them. They take some pratice to be albe to ride with them. I would not want to ride on them on a group ride.
Dave

I have a pair of specialized gel gloves. They work find, but I don't think any pair of gloves will totally eliminate the numbness you are talking about. If you are putting pressure on the nerves while you are riding, a little bit of gel or foam isn't going to make that much difference.

I'm working on my flexibility so I (hopefully) won't be putting as much pressure on the bars.

If you are a first time aero bar rider then I would HIGHLY suggest going to your LBS and asking if they will let you try out a few different styles. I see lots of people who buy them, but get the wrong size, or have them setup wrong and are riding in the wrong position. The C2's are a nice clip on setup, but a lot of people like riding a size smaller on their road bikes than Syntace recommends. If you want something under $100, check out the Profile Jammer GT's, lots of people love them.

Andrew