General Cycling Discussion - Hands Going Numb

Hi,

I am a new bike commuter. I've noticed that after 4 miles or so my hands start to go numb and tingle. Wondering if I need to raise my handlebars. I'm riding a 1993 Trek 1200 road bike given to me by a friend. Seems to fit fine but maybe I'm leaning down to far?

Thanks.

I ride a Trek 7.3FX and had the same problem. A nice pair of bicycle gloves cured the problem. But have your bars checked for height also.

Try adjusting the fore/aft position of your seat to change the weight distribution. I was having that problem when I first got my bike, and moving the seat back a few mm solved the problem and got the weight distribution better between seat and hands. It also gave me a more powerful pedal stroke, must be a better angle of the leg or something, but it was definitely a noticeable difference.

Thanks to both suggestions. I will give them a try.

The Ironman gloves are the ones to get.

By 'good' bicycle gloves this means gel-padding in the areas of the ulnar and medial-nerves. It's this sort of compression that causes, at least partially, numbness and other unpleasantries.

Pearl Izumi 'Slice' gloves here.

I've tried several kinds of gloves and for me the Specialized BG are the absolute best.

Pearl Izumi 'Slice' gloves here.

+ on that,made in Germany,mine is the ''Select Gel'', nice gloves,will buy a pair for cold weather as well.

You say the bike was given to you. Is it even the correct size frame for you? There are adjustments that can be made for fit, but only so far. How about some more information, like your height, the size of the bike and maybe pictures of your setup and you riding?

If you have or have had rotator cuff injuries, you might be getting the nerve-pinch that bothers me so much. I do 3 things to help. While riding, I remember from time-to-time to sit up, let loose one hand, and shake that arm from finger tips to shoulder a few times. Helps restore circulation and feeling. At every stoplight, and at stop signs if I'm help up, I'll stop and roll both shoulders a few times forward and back, and shake both arms from finger tips to shoulders as much as possible.

Last thing I'm doing, which also seems to help, is some light weight training to strengthen shoulders, back, and torso. Core work seems quite important for a bike rider, strange as that might sound since we're usually sitting. I've found the more I work on core (abdominals and lower back), the better I can ride and the fewer issues I have with neck and shoulders (including hand numbness) while riding.

Hey Panthers, can you tell me how that bar end you have works? do you put the thumb around it or else? look too short to hold by hand. I have a Mirrycle mountain bike mirror on my FX,will it able to be used in that bar end?

I think the bike is an ok fit. We did take it to a LBS for a new seat-rod/stem and regular pedals and the guy adjusted the seat height and watched me ride around the street a little bit. I've only been riding old beat up beach bikes just at the beach and at first I felt very uncomfortable on this road bike. Mentioned this to the LBS guy and he said the fit looked good and I'd get used to bike in no time. I do feel pretty comfortable on the bike now (have put in 7 round-trip commutes (~7-9 miles each way depending on drop off point).

Will get bike gloves this weekend and try moving the seat back just a bit. I do notice that when I move myself back on the seat I get a stronger pedal stroke.

So I got some gloves and they helped just a bit. I still got numb fingers towards the end of my ride and had to change hand positions quite often.

This morning I moved the seat forward just a bit. Seems to help greatly. All hand positions are much more comfortable with no numbness. We'll see how the longer ride home goes.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I used to have this problem sometimes, it went away on it's own. Weird.