Cosmicyclist

I noticed the stock grips on my Giant Cypress used to make my hands (specifically, the pads) numb after riding for extended periods of time. This became so bad that I'd find myself changing my grip to something different, and too loose (palms on the end), just to avoid the numbness. I replaced the grips with some "ergo" ones but despite some limited improvements my hands still go numb eventually.
So I'm starting to wonder if it could be caused by something else. Might a wrong size frame be causing this? By somehow making me put more weight on my hands than I am supposed to?
Thanks for any ideas.

gilpi

Since you mentioned possibly wrong frame, what frame size is the bike and your height? Is your sitting position very aggressive, leaning forward too much?

Maelochs

Could be grabbing too hard in exactly the same place most of the time. When I started riding my new MTB my hands got numb in 20 minutes, and I realized I had the bars clenched in exactly the same grip the whole time.

When you say 'the pads" do you mean the heel and the base of the thumb? if yo are getting pressure across there you might be pressing on the ulnar nerve which (I think) runs right up the middle.

Or maybe loosen the wrist fasteners of your gloves

CrankyOne

If you are placing a lot of your upper body weight on your arms and wrists then this will happen. While changing bars or position can help the best way to fix this is to; ride harder so that your weight shifts to your legs, ride in a more upright position.

The harder you ride the more you will notice that your back begins to act like a spring. This reduces the weight on your arms/wrists and at higher wattage will become negative (you're pulling up on the bars instead of resting on them).

The reason that almost everyone outside of North America rides an upright Dutch geometry bicycle for anything but racing is because they are not riding hard enough to relieve the pressure on their wrists nor do they want to. 12-15 MPH is fine. Interestingly proper upright geometry is actually more efficient than slightly leaning forward and is better for your back. More: City Bikes | LocalMile

So, if you're racing or riding hard and aggressive then a road, mountain, or hybrid bike/bars are the ticket, otherwise a proper city bike is likely a better option.

linberl

Your weight should be properly distributed through the three touch points, saddle/bars/feet. If the bike fit is good, then you may need to work on your core muscles to hold your body so you don't "slouch" all the weight to your hands. Try riding with your hands flat on the grips and fingers splayed outward, not curled around the grip. If you can do this comfortably (best on flats) then you may just be using a death grip and need to work on relaxing your hands.

philbob57

Lots of info (more factual, less opinion) here: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...umb-hands.html

trail_monkey

For me after trying everything I figured it out. Trouble is I can't do anything about it. It's road vibration that transfers up through the bars to my hands. I can ride my gravel bike for miles on hardpack and then if I hit several miles of rough stuff the tingling starts setting in. I can feel my hands getting the sensation based off of what surface I am riding on and different tires have different effects as well. I also may have some issues that contribute like my sore elbow from long miles behind the wheel of my work vehicle fighting cross winds. My right arm starts getting irritated right above my elbow at the end of my tricep. I think I have some issues already is what I am saying but I guarantee after a couple years trying to figure it out I have finally figured out the problem. I keep thinking someone needs to invent some silicone thingies ( like what you attach all over compound bows that quiet and dampen the shock of the bow string ) to attach to your bike stem to cancel out road vibration before it gets to your hands.

RonH

Do you wear padded cycling gloves?

trail_monkey

Me?

RonH

No. Replying to the OP.

Zurichman2

I am what I guess you call an ultra cyclist and have had problems like you are describing on rides over 400k Things that have worked for me. Double wrap your handlebars. Deaden your front end. I run 120 - 125 psi on my back tire and 105 - 110 on my front. Moving our hands around on the bars more will also help. Good luck

vol

Thanks for linking that great thread.

79pmooney

Cosmic, the problem could be your straight handlebars and the lack of any good position outside resting the same place of your palms on the bars the same all the time. (You did find the one alternative, but that has its drawbacks.) This is one of the reasons so many road riders use bikes with dropped handlebars, not just those who race or need to go fast. With dropped handlebars, there is only one of 3 or 4 positons that place pressure as your bars do and that position is generally used the least. The rest of the time, we ride with our palms turned in to varying degrees and with much lass pressure on the base of our palms.

Now, refitting your bike with dropped handlebars is going to get expensive and yuo may well find that there are compromises that are less than ideal. But you might keep your eyes open for different handlebars, MTB-style extensions, etc that could accomplish some of the same effect. There are those that love the mustache style bars for the additional hand positions they offer. (I have no experience there; just tossing that out there.)

As for the advice above, yes good fit is important. But good fit can include real weight on your hands. Real weight on your hands can be handled with no issues IF you address how your hands sit on the handlebars. I know I haven't given you the answer. I hope I have opened your eyes to what the questions should be.

Ben

Cosmicyclist

I'm 5'9" and my frame size is an "M" or "L" (can't remember now). I tend to sit pretty upright when I ride (maybe because I grew up in Europe )

Cosmicyclist

Fascinating. I grew up in Europe (live stateside now) and have always wondered why upright riding seems so rare here. Any idea what might have caused this difference?

Thanks. Thinking of getting a hybrid with end bars, which should hopefully give me more options for changing my grip as needed.

Cosmicyclist

I didn't even know such a thing existed

Cosmicyclist

Thanks Ben, for the advice. Since I am more of a hybrid guy, how about bar ends like these ones? Looks like at the very least, it gives me a couple of options for hand position, while still allowing me to stay moderately upright.

coominya

I had the same trouble, turned out to be the shape of the bars. The Giant Cypress probably has the same bars as my toughroad.

I went from these


To these

And my numb hand problem went away.

79pmooney

(Edit: this is an answer to Cosmic above. Didn't see your post until I posted.) That's a start. What makes me nervous is having my hands that far form the brakes. Ride there all the time and the day may come when someone steps out form behind a car or a car slows unexpectedly ahead of you and you hands are there. I don't have good answers here. (I have always thought the dropped handlebar and levers was an ingenious solution that put your brakes where the two most comfortable hand positions were right there and the rest uphill and behind the brakes, in other words, the brake levers are right where your hands naturally go in emergencies. And by my thinking, the worst setups were fix gears with pista bars intended to be ridden in the drops with the lever or levers on the tops, so the hands have to come up and back in emergencies - worse because the rider has already started braking with his legs.

If I were you, I'd consider going to a serious mountain bike shop and looking at what's out there and asking. They ride seriously on straight handlebars and many have bikes are setup for forward lean. I'd see what they do.

Ben

philbob57

You're welcome.

I just want to thank DannoXYZ for collecting the info and posting it.

RonH

You can find several styles and brands at any bike shop or online.

Jim from Boston

I have no idea, though I have had numb fingers after really long rides. I also did not read this thread, but FYI, see this current thread on the Road Cycling Forum, "Numb Hands."

GamblerGORD53

Raising the bar has worked for me. Maybe a shorter stem would help. Cycling gloves were instant tingling for me. Leather warmth gloves aren't so bad. I used to do centuries on my hybrid and did a lot of miles with one hand.

JFraz

Likely you might possibly be locking your elbows, while also putting a majority of your weight forward. This used to happen to me a lot when I began racing motorcycles, and got fatigued. Good luck.

kickstart

The 2 key factors for me.

A setup, and fit that matches how I ride. Much of whats recommended for bike fit in North American is biased on what will work for sport orientated cyclists riding hard.
As a transportation, and casual cyclist, proper fit calls for bars that are higher and further back because my riding style doesn't take the weight off my hands. I match my bike setup to me, rather than me to my bike.

The other key consideration is choosing bars that work with my personal ergonomics. For me, flat bars simply don't work, and drop bars while ok for my road bike when riding it as intended, in general aren't that good for how I ride.
I have 1 bike with trekking bars, 1 bike with drop bars, 1 bike with porteur bars, 2 bikes with dutch bars, and 3 with north road bars.
The first 2 offer multiple positions to help relieve discomfort, the rest provide one position that is comfortable all day long. Ergonomic grips make a big difference too.