fourwinds

I bought a Trek Neko 3 hybrid with suspension to reduce road vibration and allow riding on gravel too and disc brakes to minimize braking effort. After a couple miles my palms hurt, mostly thumb side, but going in a line across the palm. Sometimes there's numbness too. This is a big concern as I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand last fall.

I've had someone watch me ride and they think my elbows are bent a little and it doesn't look like I'm falling foward onto the handlebars. I'm using gloves with some padding.

My seat height is good - I can't lower it to reduce weight on handlebars. If anything I might move it up again slightly.

I think the seat is positioned correctly front to back, but I sometimes find myself forward on my pelvis on the thin part of the seat rather than on my sit bones so I've thought about moving the seat forward.

I'm thinking about switching to the ergo cork grips that have the flanges on the end pointing up so I can change hand positions.

I'm also thinking about raising the handlebard angle and/or changing to more swept back bars.

What is most likely to help?

Carbonfiberboy 

The BF Numb Hands post: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...l#post12953035
And a video about balance, which shows a road bike but the principle is the same. Probably move your saddle back. Notice her elbow-knee relationship and that her upper arms make ~90° angle with her upper torso.

CliffordK

For new grips, I'd seriously consider the Ergon grips (or other flattened grips). Perhaps the ones with small bar-end stubs that can be used for additional hand positions.

I ride mostly drop bar road bikes, but haven't been beyond experimenting a bit.

Your back and torso should take up a lot of the weight that would otherwise be directed at the hands. One thing that is sometimes discussed is the balance point. Putting the seat further back puts more weight on the seat, and putting it further forward puts more weight on the hands.

In a couple of cases, I've found that a shorter reach at the bars actually puts more weight on my hands. I'm still trying to understand that, but perhaps it has to do with natural angles between the pedals, torso, and arms. Bent elbows?

maddog34

are you "Death Gripping" the grips? try loosening up.

MikeOK

You need more hand positions, it's as simple as that. And make sure your hand and fingers wrap around the bar, you don't need a death grip but wrapping your fingers around the bar spreads the pressure out.

fourwinds

Maddog34, no death grip. The Neko 3 came with nice flanged slightly gel cushioned grips and my arm to wrist position is neutral, so not bending hand upward.

Alright MikeOK and Clifford K, that's 2 votes for increasing variety of hand positions, including one for the Ergon grips I've been thinking of.

I'm still thinking about swept back to rotate arm and hand position and maybe change the stem angle.

Thanks CliffordK and CarbonFiberBoy, Good to learn shortening seat-handlebars position would increase weight on hands which isn't a good idea for me.

I talked to the bike store where I purchased the bike. They gave no tips and said buy a $125 fitting guarenteed for a year. I talked to another bike store and a fitter spent 20 min on the phone going through options and said a $275 3 hour fitting guarenteed for a year or a 30-60 minute focused fitting at $100/hour might provide more info. I do think my needs might change as I ride more and gain core strength. Right now my position needs to be more upright.

BobbyG

I don't usually visit the fit forum, but I happened to see your post and I wanted to share what works for me. I'm 55, and for the last dozen years I have had cramping hand issues. Not carpal tunnel, but achy, cramping hands with occasional numbness. This affected me when holding a softball bat, catching, massaging my wife's shoulders, etc.

At the time I had just one bike, a wide-bar MTB based commuter with no suspension. I wanted to add bar-end, to gain another hand position, but the bars were pretty wide, so I added them inboard. That helped.

Then I acquired an old drop-bar road bike. The drop-bars were better in that when riding on the hoods, as with riding on my inboard bar-ends it took longer to cramp. And then I bought an aero bar for more hand positions including holding the elbow rests for more upright riding.

At first I bought gloves with more padding, even tually wearing weightlifter's gloves. Then I added Dr. Scholls heel cushions inside my gloves. That helped, both biking, softball fielding and batting.

But eventually I just bought some foam pipe insulation and padded my bars and ditched the padded gloves. The foam insulation is cheap, and I use a little duct tape to hold it in place. I did that on both bikes and then I bought a new road bike in 2015. I lasted two months with the bars unpadded. I wrapped them in foam and have very happy and comfortable since.

I've had fittings on both road bikes and I'm convinced my achy hands are not a symptom of poor fit. I just have a problem.

I'm enclosing a photo of my MTB bars. It's now my secondary commuter, and gets studded snow tires for winter commuting.

I realize this is unconventional, but this is what works for me. TO paraphrase the old VW Beetle magazine ad from 1970, "It's ugly, but it gets me there."

Good luck and happy pain-free biking.

Brian25

Check your seat tilt. If your seat is tilted down much, your weight will be shifted onto your hands. hand killer. (ouch!)

kevlar_heart 

Thanks for this post. I was looking for some thoughts on hand pain/numbness.

I like the "death grip" comment. I am getting back on a road bike for the first time in several years. My confidence in descents is still off, and I tend to throttle the brake hoods. That and getting used to STI shifting from my ancient down tube shifters has me up on the handlebars for longer periods

The seat position on my Specialized Allez Sport is dead on for leg power and back support, I am getting hand numbness after the first hour or so of riding. Would adding a spacer to the bar stem be advised to raise the handlebars?

My CAADX has a less aggressive riding geometry and I don't get the same type of numbness on long rides. I take the CX on light trails as well as pavement, so my hands are moving more. Same seat height relative to pedal position...just different results.

I suppose I could drop some cash into a proper fitting, if that's the way to go...

Thanks for the input

TiHabanero

I used to have the same issues some years ago. Put on a longer and higher stem, and the problem went away. I use road bars and vary hand position all of the time. Get out of the saddle often, too, as it affords a completely different approach to the bar.


BobbyG, you are missing the kitchen sink on your machine. Sakes, live, boy, what in the world!!??

BobbyG

I might be a little ocd....

fourwinds

The bike store fitter spent some time with me - at no charge - and we tried out several things and made the following changes:

1. swept back handlebars
2. 25 degree riser for front handlebars
3. Ergon cork hand grips. Unfortunately the multi position ones don't work with swept back bars.
4. slight uptilt of the seat so I don't slide forward onto it and shift more weight to hands.
5. practice engaging core

fourwinds

Brian25 checking seat tilt was a great suggestion! It's one of the changes I just made that helped. Still some hand pain, but much less. I'll try all the changes I made for a couple weeks and then re-evaluate.

IamNed

I have the toughest time determining my inseam. I have several marks on the wall ranging from 34 to 35 inches. I'm 5'11". My paid fitting set me at 34.25 inches. I've always set my saddle height to BB at 78cm. It works and feels right for my other bikes. My recent addition, and favorite bike, is a much more race oriented geometry. I've had significant issues with numb hands on this bike. I've raised and lowered the handlebars with stack heights ranging from 15mm to 50mm. I've flipped multiple 7/6 degree stems that measure 90mm, 100mm, and 110mm. I've used multiple saddles without regard to saddle setback, forward, middle, back, among different saddles. Still, despite everything I've tried, numb hands starting at mile 10. A couple of days ago I dropped my saddle height from 78cm to 77cm because I have tried every other combination I can think of, including raising the saddle to Competitive Cyclist Fit specs. At the same time (for vain purposes because 50mm just looks bad) I lowered the stack to 30mm.

Two groups rides totaling 60 miles, and no numbness. Apparently the saddle to handlebar drop, and reach, and setback, had no effect on my numb hands. Dropping the saddle 10mm does. I'll continue at this new height to see if I have any knee issues, but tonight I clocked my fastest avg for an over 20 mile ride with this saddle height. Again, no numb hands. I'm pretty excited if this is the answer.

Brooke1687

Did the changes you made help? I just got my Neko 2 a few weeks ago. The fit is good, but I broke my hand a few weeks before that. I've only done 1 short ride but I'm afraid I might have to make some modifications to do longer rides until I have built up strength back in my hand.

fourwinds

Brooke1687, yes the better seat tilt helped. No longer felt like I wasn't "falling" onto front of pelvis as much even when I leaned more forward.

The somewhat swept back bars, higher angle and Ergo grips reduced the hand pain during a few short rides (5-8 miles). Unfortunately I am taking a month or two off due to an unplanned surgery so this will delay me getting used to the bike changes and figuring out if these were enough.