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.