I bike intensely for exercise at 160 - 170 heart rate but I'm struggling to set the optimal ergonomics. I set the seat height to allow my knees to fully extend to unleash full pedaling power, and reduce my handle post height to the minimum to avoid back pain. I use a Schwinn noseless saddle as the narrow seats cause me butt pain after heavy exertion on the bike. With this setup there is too much slipping to the front and I have to adjust my butt position every few minutes. This is an annoying nuisance but is not the worst. I didn't used to have much hand pain when I lived in a suburban area with even and flat roads. But after moving to a different area with roads uneven and sloping, I get constant pain in the middle of the hand where the thumb joins, from all the forward pressure and having to constantly readjust my body position on the bike. This hand pain is ruining my biking experience. Has anyone faced a similar problem? Any help is much appreciated. I could not post a pic of my bike yet due to forum restrictions.

Raise the handlebars to take some pressure off your hands. You don't say what type of handlebar you use. If it is a flat bar, perhaps add some handlebar extensions or change to a drop bar to get more hand positions. Do you wear gloves?

Time for a test ride on a recumbent Trike.

Are you having these issues on your Dahon?

Padded gloves have helped me with hand pain.

my first thought when I read this was that your saddle tilt or the fore-aft position needs to be adjusted. sliding forward is an indication that your pelvis is not cradled and balanced on the bike. the result is that you are pushing yourself back constantly into the saddle, which is putting more pressure on your hands. sort that out first, then consider the handlebar position.

a lot of people will recommend contoured grips with "wings" like Ergon. while these are a good solution to stability and comfort for long distances, don't let weird grips give you the illusion that they are solving your problem. IME, a bike that is set up to fit the rider well should not need weird weird grips to be rideable. your bike should be comfortable enough that you can go on a short ride without grips at all (not that I recommend that) and you should seek out unconventional grips if you have an underlying medical issue or you want to ride very long distances.

I feel the same way about padded gloves. I can ride 50+ miles without gloves and I actually don't like padded gloves. I wear gloves on my mountain bike to mitigate injury if I fall and wear gloves on other rides only when it's cold. if you can't ride at all without padded gloves, you have a bike fit issue that needs to be resolved, or you have an undiagnosed medical issue.

I was experiencing hand numbness which was abated by raising the handlebars.

I hate to be that guy... if you have a straight bar, consider switching to a swept bar. You'll be able to use the same controls, and while it only offers one hand position, it's a much more comfortable position.

With a straight bar, I'm in pain by the first half mile. This is why you see people installing bar ends or riding with their palms cupped over the ends of their bars, or their fists on top of the bar. With a swept bar, I can ride indefinitely in one position. That bit of rotation to the wrists makes a huge difference.

Otherwise, raising the bar, and considering a drop bar, are also possible solutions. It's also cheaper to try a swept bar since you can usually use the same controls and cables.

If you were fine before you moved, but now have the hand numbness it could be road vibrations. It could also be you’re getting older and you’re less flexible and putting more weight on your hands. I would try a new pair of cycling gloves with gel, and work on core strengthening exercises first. A weak core can also cause back pain on the bike. As you get older you might have to raise your handlebars a bit.

https://www.cyclemotion.co.uk/dahon/properfit.htm

No hand pain there at all!!!! Notice the recumbent smile.

You may want to try bar ends to give you more hand positions; and you may consider mounting them "inboard" like in this thread:

Anyone else using bar ends this way?

My previous "jungle-gym" set up is there with inboard bar ends and an aero bar. I also have been using foam pipe insulation on my bars since my mid 40's when my hands became more crampy and sensitive.

Last year I finally converted my straight bar mountain bike to drops like my other two bikes which give me no hand pain (as long as I use pipe foam). Unlike converting from straight to swept bars, converting to drop bars required new bars (of course), a new stem, new brake levers and new shifters. It took me 6 hours (shoulda been less) and cost ~$75 since bought a used stem, bars and shifters from the local bike co-op and did the work myself. New brake levers, cabling and housings were cheap enough. But after all that work planning and wrenching I have not had and issues, which was nice in the winter, since it is my snow bike.

I ride drop bars. I ride with real weight on my hands. For me, the angle of my wrists is critical. If it feels off, I adjust the handlebar rotation until it feels better. (Sighting down the drop flat tot he chainstay where I keep a piece of tape for reference.) Then when I get home, I do the raising or lowering of the handlebars, sliding the brake levers, retaping, etc, to get this new angle in the proper location for the rest of my fit.

I also go back and forth between riding the hoods and riding the drops. (I am very picky about bar shape, especially the lower bend area where my hand rests. I haven't tried ergo bars as I find certain (common) traditional bars very comfortable. Also picky about my brake levers. (I see brifters as a big step backwards in that it costs hundreds to alter such a key contact point.)

Try going for a ride with no handlebar tape, just enough electrical tape to keep the cables in place. Bring the wrenches for the stem and brake levers. Stop and adjust as needed. When I feel I have got it I then wrap the handlebars from the bottom with cloth handlebar tape. (Easy to unwrap to the levers and move them.) Don't put on good tape until you know everything is "right". (2022?)

Our three contact points are critical; as important as anything on the bike. (Feet, butt and hands.) You won't regret this work.

Ben

In 2019 i started riding semi-seriously. Do a few hundred miles then a metric century. It took me about 4 days for my hands to stop being numb after that ride. All through the winter 2019-2020 I had hand pain when i rode. Tried everything from gloves to seat position to stem height and length. Took pain meds and used squish balls in ride (on a trainer).

Did all this no relief. Then suddenly it all stopped. I think it was mainly due to in increase in core strength but I also got my seat angle correct, used multiple hand positions and in general finally got the bike adjusted to fit me. Of course that is just me.

Get the seat in a position so your not sliding forward. Next, if you have flat bars, rotate them in the stem. For inside(closer to thumb) hand pain, rotate slightly forward. For outside hand pain, rotate bars slightly back. This method has worked for me when I had the same problem.

I have the same experience with straight bars. Useless as a handlebar, but I use a steel one as a tool: it provides a bit of extra leverage on hex wrenches, when needed.

I have swept bars on both of my bikes and they work great for my riding. However, I will point out that swept bars are not limited to one position.

Mine have grips on the end sections along with flat bar levers and then tape on the rest of the bars and I ride a lot on the various parts of the forward bends.

I have even seen people put bars ends on the inner part for a more aero position, using cheap steel bar ends that have enough flex to negotiate the bends.

If you want to use these other positions, it helps if you don’t clutter the bars with shifters. You can use bar end shifters on some swept bars, stem shifters if the stem is suitable or ride single speed like I do so there is no need for shifters.

Otto

Post more so we can get some pics of the bike and pics of you on the bike. Without them the guess work is extra difficult.

So the saddle position is one issue to be addressed (you might want to search youtube for videos on saddle position and bike fitting), then the handlebars are a second issue. As others have mentioned, bar-ends to enable multiple hand positions, extra thick grips, etc., or maybe new handlebars (Jones bars?).

This will definitely help. And I should have been clear to put anything to do with handlebar height, reach and style in the parking lot until you know you have foot position on the pedal, saddle height, saddle fore-aft and saddle tilt set properly to fit you.

Otto

Book a bike fit. Easy fix.

I ride a LWB recumbent so my hands don't carry any of my body weight. In fact, they just rest on the bars. However, I still get hand pain from road vibration transmitted though the relatively stiff front wheel and into the handle bars. All of these helped; folding bead front tire run at less that max pessure, padded gloves and two thicknesses of soft foam hand grips on each side.
I run the folding bead front tire at 65 psi while it has a max pressure of 100 psi. The lower pressure combined wi the flexible sidewalls really soak up most of the vibration. The others help too and it all adds up. Good luck. bk

Lots of ok suggestions above, but they all missed the ultimate solution: a unicycle! Your welcome.

It sounds like you did everything you could to induce hand pain. Start over. It sounds like you jacked your seat up too high, and put your bars too low, and perhaps your seat isn't far enough back. If you have your seat too high though, you cannot get firmly planted on the seat, which will cause you to slide forward and place more weight on your hands. That is what I believe you have going on. After you get your seat in the correct place for you, then you can tweak the bar position if necessary. If your seat placement is correct though, you really shouldn't have much weight at all on your hands as you are pedaling.

Read these. Read the first two all the way through before adjusting your seat.


https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...ard-can-it-be/

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...d-can-it-be-2/

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...or-road-bikes/

I would seriously get a proper bike fit. It sounds like you are way off and that will cause a lot of problems. Hopefully that fitter will suggest a proper saddle. The noseless saddles are...they are...well...they are a design I guess but the nose of the saddle is not just there because it has always been there and we hate change it is there to help control the bike. Finding the right bike saddle can be hard but your fitter can likely steer you in a better direction and also get everything at the correct height, angle and such to make sure you are comfortable. Once you have that down I would also try some Ergon grips and play around with the position on those to suit your hands but I would take care of everything else first as that seems to be the bigger area of concern.

Pain or numbness in either your hands or butt is a sure sign that you’re not putting enough weight into your pedals and probably also severely under-working your lower back.