Originally Posted by
andr0id
I'm not a professional fitter, but I have been cycling since about 1975 and have helped a lot of people with fit and comfort on their bikes.
I've come to one conclusion. If your hands are numb, your saddle position and/or tilt is wrong.
Wait, what?? He didn't mention handlebars at all....
Nope, your hand should not support your upper body weight or resist you sliding forward on the saddle. Most people don't even realize they are sliding forward on the saddle, but subconsciously adjust and push themselves back with their hands constantly while riding. This put a lot of pressure on the hands and in exactly the wrong place.
You should be able to sit on the saddle squarely without sliding forward. You should be able to bend forward and rest your hands on the handlebars WITHOUT supporting your upper body weight. That means on the hoods and tops of the bars and with a minimal reasonable amount of weight supported in the drops. Same with flat bars. You're supposed to use your hand to steer, not do the equivalent of 20 miles of push ups on a 1" diameter aluminum pipe.
Once you have that right, your hands will stop getting numb.
I keep hearing that, and I can see where saddle position can definitely hurt the situation, but it's hard for me to understand how someone can be leaned over that far WITHOUT there being pressure on the hands. Gravity takes over. The Roam isn't an upright position bike. I have an XL frame (being 6'4") and the saddle height is proper, according to everything I've read, and how it feels. Leg almost 100% extended on the down-pedal. When it came from the LBS, I had to get the saddle height right, and also the tilt. They had it pretty much level, and my hands went numb FAST. I tried to ride without hands, and it felt like I was sliding down a park slide. I've always had my saddles tilted slightly up in the front, and I did the same here and it helped a lot. Any more tilt upwards though and it would look ridiculous. I've played with the fore and aft, one extreme to the other, but the middle position seems to suit me best.
I appreciate your help, and anyone else's for that matter in trying to help me figure this out. Thanks.