Road Cycling - Gloves: Padded, gel or none?

I am not liking the gel gloves that I bought a year ago when I got into being a roadie. I think they are just too bulky on the bar. Problem is, I still occasionally get numb hands, even though I move my hands on the bars alot and shift positions in the elbow. Usually get the twingly fingers at about an hour into the ride and they will go away after shaking the hands to get blood going .Will I make matters worse with a non padded glove? Is there some sort of compromise glove somewhere in between padded and non padded or should I bite the bullet and get the non padded and see what happens?

I think that the Gel, thick padding etc. helps contribute to the numb hands.
I'd suggest try a simple leather palm, no padding glove. You can get
crochetted gloves without padding from Nashbar for less than 10 bucks.

Marty

Try making small adjustments to the handle bar tilt. If this makes any improvement you may then try adjusting the position of the brake levers on the bars, but this will require retaping the bars. Turning the brake levers inwards a few degrees may also help.

Down on a business trip to Savannah, GA i rode 30 miles and got the tingly left pinky for 2 days - this is likely due to the fact that savannah is coastal and so flat that you can't tell if you are on an incline or a decline most of the time, so you never get to stand up, stretch out, etc. I'm following suit with you, and I just ordered simple gloves yesterday from performance. there are about 6 pairs with Pittards leather and crochet or lycra for less than 10 bucks.

I just switched to Specialized Phat Wrap bar tape, and saw a huge difference. It is slightly more "spongey" feeling than straight cork. It really seems to soak up the road vibration.

All that gel has to go somewhere when you press down on the handlebar. Unfortunately, that usually means it goes into that channel between the two bumps where your palm meets your wrist. Unfortunately again, all your nerves travel through that same channel, which means the displaced gel is compressing those nerves.

Might not be the gloves. A common cause of hand and wrist problems is poor bike fit or poor setup, which causes you to put too much weight on your hands. Raising the bars or making other adjustments often helps.

Might not be the gloves. A common cause of hand and wrist problems is poor bike fit or poor setup, which causes you to put too much weight on your hands. Raising the bars or making other adjustments often helps.

Bingo. That's what I was going to say. If the frame is too large, you'll never get rid of the wrist problems.