I know drop bars offer more hand positions, I'm just not ready---yet. I've got a Marin Hybrid with a riser bar. I'm thinking some kind of bar ends maybe egro grips combination?

What works for you?
I'm looking at something like the

Cane Creek Ergo Control II Bar Ends
Or
Ergon GR2

I don't know much about this----so any suggestions would be welcome. I'm leaning toward the Ergon grips/bar end--thingy, if it's junk that would be something I'd REALLY like to know.

What part of your hands go numb? From what I've gathered, numb hands usually means you are putting too much weight on them because you are leaning too far forward. I am sure the experts will chime in soon. I have never used bar ends. I have a 7.3 and 7.5 FX with flat bars and both never gave me any problems with numb hands and I've gone on plenty of super long rides with them.

Palms/thumbs. It's not new for me I get this on my mountain bike as well. That bike is a much more stretched out that the hybrid.

Definitely play with bike fit before buying anything. Make sure that you can balance yourself for a few seconds, while taking your hands off of the handle bars and keeping your feet on the pedals. If you can't, move your seat back a bit and try again. As you move your seat back, you may have to move your handlebar grip area backward to match. Getting the bike fit right will make a much greater difference than bar ends and new grips. When properly adjusted, I can ride a flat bar bike for 20 or 30 miles without any hand numbing issues. When the bike is not right, my hands can go numb in less than 3 miles.

Go slow with me. you don't mean leaning forward in the riding position-----right? You mean sitting up and riding without holding on. I can tell you if I took my hands off the handlebar I'd go face first down. You are saying I should be able to ride leaning forward? The bike has a 0 to 60 degree adjustable rise stem, it's set at 30 degrees, if it helps.

I think what he is talking about ( I have experienced this too ) is the effect of how much you lean over... visualize how far your butt sticks out when you bend over... by trying to bend over with your heels against a wall... you can't... (I can't) so when you rump moves back the balance goes more over your feet, you may lean over, but less forward... hence moving your seat back to essentially move your feet forward relatively... this allows less pressure on your hands ( yes pros?)

Not sure if you are talking about this, but there's an effect that you get with a good cadence and the right balance. You hands seem to have less burden because your fast spinning legs levitate your upper body somewhat. So you don't have a death grip on the bars.

Of course, in winter or rough conditions, this doesn't work as well.

OK, I'll try moving the seat back and see if it improves, I have to admit I'm not convinced it's going to help. My MNT bike has a 23" TT and an off set seat post, as I wrote above, it's stretched out, I still get the numbness on that.

Next 2 days are supposed to rain here, depending on how bad is when I'm going to get to bike commute again. I'll update this.

Comfortably riding a bike is all about the three points of contact between you and the bicycle. These points are the feet (pedals), the hands (handlebars) and the butt (saddle). If you rely too much on any one point of contact, that point will develop problems such as soreness or numbness.

You should be able to balance yourself for 2 or 3 seconds, coasting while lightly taking your hands off of the handle bars. If you have a trainer for your bike, put the bike on the trainer and try it. If you can't balance yourself even for a few quick seconds, then you're using too much hand pressure to maintain balance, instead of using more of your butt and your legs.

By moving the seat back, you will be forced to use your butt and legs more, and your hands less. After you move the seat back, you move the handle bar backwards until your hands meet the bar properly.

If you move the seat back to the proper spot, and the handlebars can't be brought back far enough, then you need a new part from your LBS to bring the handlebar back to the proper distance, or the bike is just plain to large for your body. The part required could be a new stem or and new handlebar.

Also remember that handlebar height can effect the distance between you and the handlebar.

I agree with all the fit advice posted here, but I will also say that the Ergon style grips help a lot. With flat bars you dont have as many positions to move your hands around to. The wide parts of the bars help spread the weight around and allow more bloodflow. I would adjust fit and try the grips.

I'm not sure about these adjustments and how much they will help. Frankly, I doubt that moving the seat back will help and may even make it worse.

One thing I know, however, is that Ergon grips reduce my hand pain and I've got them on both my bikes. These grips distribute the load across the hands and I can go many more miles without shaking or moving my hands. I prefer the type without the bar ends, and use the bike's bar ends or buy some.

I love my Ergon grips!

It's not weight so much as it's vibration. This quote

sums it up nicely.

Padded gloves, bar ends (I'd go with a longer one then the Cane Creek or Ergon), softer grips (mountain bikes come with torture devices not handlebar grips) and a more relaxed grip on the bars would help.

The added benefit of a relaxed grip is that you are putting less weight on the bars too.

pain or numbness in the palm and thumb is usually the median nerve, which runs through the depression in the center of the palm at the wrist. (The "carpal tunnel", of carpal tunnel syndrome fame.) There's a lot going through a pretty small space (there are, as I recall, nine tendons and the median nerve.), and if anything is inflamed, the others can be adversely effected. The median nerve provides innervation to the palm side of the thumb, index, middle, and part of the ring finger, as well as the fingernails on these fingers.

Stress on the carpal tunnel can be caused by hand/wrist angle, putting weight on the wrong part of the hand, and a bunch of other things (like too soft grips that deform to put pressure on it). They're mostly fit related.

Here's another vote for the ergons. I use the ones without the integrated bar ends & have seperate bar ends added on (They're longer) but by all means, if you are experiencing that kind of pain, give a pair of ergons a try. They have gotten rid of all my palm pain. Well worth the $.

Another Option, Trekking bars , more places to move your hands around onto,
I use a 'grip' that is across the Hole of the Figure 8 bend , sometimes,
which relieves the palm contact entirely for a little while ,

double wrapped with padded tape..

I'm ordering a set of Ergon, CG3 I think, they have a long integrated Bar end.

Put them on my Bike Friday, as the trekking bars, as is, won't split for BF packing..

can drop bars that are too narrow cause numbness and/or pain? I've begun to think that my bars might be too narrow, is it true that they should be as wide as your shoulders?

MTBerJim says it happens in mountain biking too. I have the same problem both in road biking and mountain biking. On a mountain bike, I can lose my whole hand on a fast bumpy downhill. I can mitigate the problem on both bikes by using padded gloves and better padding on the bars. I'm not talking about squishy grips but I don't use hard rubber or the more common grips found on mountain bike either. My worst instance of the problem occurred on a week long mountain bike tour on a Miyata Ridge Runner equipped with the original hard rubber, no vibration damping grips. It took 6 weeks for me to get the feeling back in my hands.

If it happens on multiple bikes, I doubt that the fit issues would be the same on each bike, especially with the longer cockpit of the mountain bike.

I don't think anyone else mentioned this, but if your bar doesn't have any backwards sweep or very little, you may want to get one with more sweep for a more natural hand position. I personally hate flat bars which normally come with only 3-6 degrees of backwards sweep, it is just not comfortable after 10 miles of riding. Something around 12-15 or more degrees of backward sweep. Someone like the On-One Mary bar.

I have both the CaneCreek II bar ends (attached to ODI Rogue lock on grips) and Ergon GC2 grips with short bar ends. I prefer the Ergon myelf (I think I should have gotten ones with longer bar ends though).

If you feel you are to stretched out than maybe trekking bars would help. From everything I read they look like a good investment for not a lot of money.

I put my vote behind more sweep as well, the hand position offered by flat bars just isn't natural (to me at least), I need a good 30 degrees or so before I feel really comfortable.

First thanks for all the advice and suggestions.
A few of you, have written about handle bar rise, angle of the sweep. I figured it would be easier to just post pix so you could see.
I've moved the seat as far back as I can, it was only about 1/2" further back. I was also able to ride w/o holding on, with a little practice I could go about 10-15 seconds.

Seat before

seat after

Handle bar looking down from the the seat

Stem angle

Side view-whole bike

Some good advice here. I've tried many of the above suggestions, and I have a bin full of bars/stems/grips/gloves to prove it. I have a set of GC2s; they are great grips, but the short barend is not as versatile as a longer one. On the upside, they leave the end of the bar open if you like to mount a handlebar mirror. I also have a set of GC3s and they are great grips. They offer me 4 distinct hand positions, and that goes a long way toward minimizing hand numbness. Padded gloves are also a big help.

That being said, I am a tried & true trekking bar convert. I have them on two of my bikes now; one integrated with some Ergon GP1 grips, and the other with bar tape only. I would recommend trekking bars to any flat-bar bike riders who are looking for more hand positions and greater comfort.

These are exactly the grips I was talking about. Since they are a dense elastomer (rubber to regular people), they don't have much 'give' and don't really provide that much vibration damping. A closed cell foam grip like the old, but still available, Grab-on grips provide more vibration damping.

If that is your normal saddle tilt, you may be using your hands to pull you towards the bar. Your hands aren't relaxed on the bar but are gripping them tightly. A tight grip can also lead to hand numbness.

I'm aware the saddle is supposed to be level, when I moved it back last night I adjusted the seat to make it more level. As far as the "death grip", It's not something I do, most of the time I'm just resting my palms on the bar, thumb on top fingers barely touching, I'm not holding on to keep from falling back wards or forward.
The adjustments seen to have helped---some. I still think some different hand positions and or grips would help.
Still open to suggestions for fit and grips.

Thanks all.

Re: drop bars, its more about breathing, chest expansion, the hand numbness not intimately related,
bike fit may be improved in numerous ways .
stem length , bar height, saddle set back , etc.