Originally Posted by genejockey

i suspect a lot of hand numbness/pain issues are entirely about fit. And it's not always obvious what the issue is. I got a bike two years ago, and after carefully setting the saddle height and setback to match my other bikes, i took it for a ride. My hands kept going numb, which they never did on the other bikes. The bars were an inch higher on the new bike than the others. I lowered them to match, and the numbness went away completely. Another example - i refitted a bike last week, putting an all new groupset and a new saddle on it. I was having some discomfort in my hands during a short, 25 mile 'shakedown' ride. I spent some time carefully measuring the bike against my others. The saddle was lower and farther back, and the sti levers were tilted up. When i adjusted all of that, and went for a 55 mile ride yesterday, and no hand discomfort.

So, it's not simply a matter of 'more upright'. It's the overall fit - how much weight is on your hands, the angle of the wrist as they rest on the bars, what part of the hand bears the weight, etc. And it could be the bars are fine and your butt needs to be higher!