Hi. I recently purchased a new bike fitted with oversized bar and stem - Deda Newton OS bar and Deda Newton 31.7 stem. Specs: bar is 42cm c-c, anotomic bend, and bulges up where it meets the stem.

When riding on the bar tops, for example when ascending, I tend to ride with my thumb on top of the bars more often then gripped around the bars. Since the bar tape ends where the bulge in the bar starts I have found that my hand becomes uncomfortable during longer rides. I do tend to move my hands from the tops to the hoods and to the drops quite often but they still get sore/numb.

I went with the oversized bars mainly because I was informed they would be stiffer and think I may have made a mistake and should have gone with the Deda 215 bar and Deda 26.0 stem. Before I make the plunge for a new bar/stem combination does anybody have any suggestions or had similar experiences?

put the bar tape up a little farther?

holy crap! someone else from columbia!

anyway, I say that if your hands are bothering you, I'd try to move your hands out farther apart on the bar. not only will this stop your thumb from hurting, it'll open up your chest a bit more for the climb.

Good advice Phatman and nnewton123 (and common sense ;) ). Old habits are hard to break. For some reason I tend to move my hands inward when I climb. Will work on keeping hands more outward and was looking at how my bars are wrapped and am going to try and run the tape inwards more and get rid of the bulge where the tape ends. Since the bike is new, I tried wrapping the bars and stopped the tape before the Deda logos toward the stem. Will have to use more common sense and try wrapping the bar more and not worry about being able to see the bar logos :D Form should follow function, right - or something like that.