Bike nut

I recently purchased a new bike and now when I ride my hands go numb and one of my feet go numb. I have lowered the seat and that has not helped with my feet. My last bike had a seat with a lot of padding and a straight handle bar. The new one has a seat that is skinnier and wide drop handle bars. Also my last bike was a mountain bike that I rode as a road bike. This bike is a touring bike that was converted to a semi-cyclocross bike. I like the bike but should I return the bike or are there corrections I can make?

caotropheus

I have the same problem as you do a bit in my hands when I ride my road bicycle. I think it is a neurological problem and you should consult a doctor to check out your problem.

pacman76

watch out for that kind of thing. i've had a lot of experience with vaious types of stress, motion, and/or use injuries on nerves and ligaments and the like. too many to discuss. it's never fun.

obviously nothing any of us say can be a definite answer, and the problem may have roots deeper in your medical history than we can know about. also, without actually seeing your body working on your bike, it's hard to say how to correct things. having said that, hyperesthesia is pretty common and not always (not usually) dangerous. it probably just be your body getting used to a new type of frame. some things that might help determine what the problem is are knowing 1)how old you are 2) gender 3)what you do for a living.

maybe check to see your getting an almost full extention of your leg (with a slight bend when the pedal is at the bottom). the angle your seat is at can also put pressure on certain nerves. play with that and see what you come up with. that angle will depend on your comfort, your style, and your handle bar position. is there a physiological "ideal", does anybody out there know? also, see where your hands are hitting the bars. try to adjust your hand position so the meaty parts of your palm contact the bars, (the palmaris brevis and the thenar should be supporting your hand, not the hard area inbetween which has poor natrual padding and can put lots and lots of pressure on nerves and stuff). also wear nicely padded bike gloves (don't skimp here). also, make sure that when you ride you put a slight bend in your elbows. if you have stiff straight arms this tends to also push the shoulders up into a scrunch that tightens the traps and neck and can also put pressure on all the nerves coming out of your neck and the ones that run under your arm pits and that can cause odd sensations. also, stiffening the arms is just bad on your frame in general. it's more natural support to use a slightly bent arm and keep the shoulders unscrunched. make sure you're stretching and getting to a massage therapist to un-bind tissues might help (a serious clinical one, not woo-woo crap ) .

but after all of that i said, i would have to say the number one best thing is that if you have health insurance, get your doctor to refer you to a physical or sports therapist who can look at you on your bike and help you determine what position and frame is best for your body.

good luck.

odds are the bike is fine, it's just a matter of adjusting it and yourself.

Bike nut

Pacman;
That makes a lot of sense. When I use a straight handlebar the thick part of the hand is actually making the contact, but when on the drop handle bars I usually have my hands on the hoods which means a lot more contact is being made with the area between (like you said).

pacman76

yeah..i ride with my hands on the hoods on a drop set like you do, and i do it 5 days a week for about 10 hours. but i try to make sure to lift the palmaris brevis (the muscle on the palmar side of the blade of the hand) and rest it on the handle bars. so the blade of my hand is kind of on the bars and the meat below the thumb is pushing against the hoods. that kind of makes the PB and the thenar below the thumb on the palm squish into a nice butt-shaped pillow and protects the center part of the palm. really really well padded bike gloves also help. for some reason most bike gloves don't have good padding in that center part where you need it, so if you're fancy with a needle and thread, some cotton balls and a patch of cloth you can add some there. but boy... when i miss and take a bump and that hard part is resting on the handle bars it feels like somebody connected a battery to my arm for a second. >shiver<