Originally Posted by
bud16415
I agree with the above comment.
Do a simple experiment. Stand with your heals against a wall and place a chair in front of you to place your hands on the seat like they were handlebars. Bend at the waist only and place your hands on the chair. Without the chair as you start to bend you will want to fall forward your feet are your balance point and your center of gravity will be ahead of that point and your hands have no choice but to take the weight. Now move your heals away from the wall and as you bend forward your body will naturally move your butt back to keep you in balance and your knees will be able to bend just a little to also shift some weight back. You will be able to put any or none of your weight on your hands. You will be using core muscles though to some extent that you don’t use in the arm only position. This athletic bend though is what I like to think about when fitting myself on a bike. And in most cases people move their saddle forward hoping to take weight off the hand by thinking they are a little more upright. The problem is the crank is a fixed position and it causes greater forward lean and CG forward.
Here is a photo I found that I added some lines to showing CG and arm position of two riders. And the angle of the arms going into the angle of the fork. Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words.
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I tried the wall thing. Wow! I can't lean very far forward when backed all the way up. How do I relate to my positioning on the bike though or is it just an example of how little lean forward it takes to shift a lot of weight forward?
I have been messing with my grip a little and it seems my biggest problem is that I "rest" the base of my palms on the bar thus creating that pressure point and causing the numbness and pain. I think this is from my accident where I had to brake quickly and went OTB and the guys hood. I feel like my hands need to be ready on the controls and as my hands would grip the bar I am not in a position to get the the brakes or shifters well. I might roll my controls down a little more so I can actually grip the bar and still actuate the levers in a better position.
Will let you all know how it goes on the ride home after the adjustments.
P.S. My seat has gone from all the way forward to all the way back. It is all the way back now and my knees feel so much better compared to how they were before. Damn Trial and Error.