dvai

Dear all,

I recently got a Trek Domane S6 and back to biking after many years.
I've always had a tendency to develop some numbness in my hands after 2-3 hours of riding. Im working on my core body to try to improve that and I reversed the stem of the bike so now is angled upwards. I also use well-cushioned gloves.

Anyways... I was trying to see what else could I do to improve comfort on my upper extremities. I even thought about upgrading to a Domane SLR which has front isospeed and the handle bars are also supposed to be more comfortable (isocore). The SLRs with discs also come with 32mm tires. The issue is that they are quite expensive and trading in my current bike will be a waste of money, plus the fact I don't even know if all the technology in the SLR will really make a difference. So I was thinking in doing some upgrades on my bike, but I wanted your input.

- Change the 25mm tires for 28mm (I have to make sure they will fit..). Higher end Domanes with regular brakesets come with 28s.
- Change the handle bar to a "isocore" model - higher end Domane come standard with this model.
- Replace the handlebar tape that comes with the Domane S to the one that comes with the Domane SLR (which is a cork+gel tape).

Those 3 changes should cost around US500, which is better than spending 6-7 thousand on a new SLR bike.

Any thoughts?

Dan333SP

How often are you moving your hands around on the bars? That's the #1 way to avoid numbness, changing positions regularly. If you ride for 3 hours on the hoods the entire time, you're bound to go numb between your thumb and index finger. Try rotating from hoods to tops to drops every 5 minutes or so.

Cushioning from thick gel bar tape or padded gloves in my experience can actually make things worse. It feels good initially but the gloves can pinch circulation and thick bar tape is IMO less comfortable to hold.

Core strength helps a lot, as does "riding light" on your hands so that your elbows are bent and you are anticipating bumps and jarring so you don't have a death grip when you hit surface imperfections.

I would not spend a lot of money to fix this issue. Wider tires can help your ride overall, but really the numbness is pressure over time from your weight against the bars and having fancy "isocore" bars won't change that equation, same for the higher end bike with the front pivot. Those things may help with sharp impacts but the numbness is cumulative and best addressed with fit and hand positioning.

dvai

Thanks for the input!
I do rotate, even though is sometimes tough to keep doing it in a regular basis (for example in a climb).

GlennR

Get a bike fit. A shorter stem might help.

fa63

As suggested above, the first thing to do is to rule out poor bike fit as a contributing factor to hand numbness. Often, not having enough saddle setback can put too much weight on the hands.

San Pedro

I got a longer stem, after a basic bike fit (kops and stem) and that happened to help me a lot.

Get a bike fitting, that might have other benefits as well.

dvai

I had a "basic fit". May try to get a more professional one.

But would a shorter or longer stem be better?

San Pedro

Whichever puts more weight off your hands. For me, a longer stem happened to do that, probably because my frame is on the small side for me.

Sojodave

Check out post #7 on this page. https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...umb-hands.html

This helped me tremendously with numb hands.

johnny99

Don't lock your elbows when you ride. If you have trouble riding with bent elbows all the time, try some sit ups.

Rollfast

https://www.google.com/search?q=torrington+handlebars


Take your pick, most of those types keep you more upright and not smashing down on your hands so much. You have too much weight on them and I doubt that helps.

jamesdak 

Best solution is go steel!

Sorta kidding although I do prefer steel over the Domane I test rode. But in all honesty, dial in the fit and figure out what works best in terms of tire pressures, bar tape, gloves, etc. So many factors go into solving this problem. Good luck.

hsuehhwa

Spend $200 to $300 on a good bike fit.


In fact, "some numbness" after "2-3 hrs" ride is not bad at all, considering you just came back to cycling. I wouldn't make those changes unless I know what I'm doing. You could easily ease your numbness by transferring it to saddle sore.


Core strength helps a lot. Bike fit can only do so much. If you want to go long (70-100 miles), your own fitness is just as important. A good bike fit can never fix poor fitness.

Carbonfiberboy 

Besides the excellent "Numb Hands" link posted above, there's also the issue of balance, which is or should be a major objective of fit. If you are nicely balanced, you should be able to lift both hands off the hoods, briefly, and not slide forward on the saddle at all. A good road fit should look and behave like this:
Watch the whole thing. In terms of having a good reach, once you have the saddle to where you can take your hands off the bars, your upper arms should make a 90° angle with your torso, like in the video.

Being able to achieve this balanced fit may not be achievable in the smaller frame sizes because seatpost angle tends to decrease as frame size gets smaller. I can't quite achieve it on my 52cm bike even with a setback post and the saddle all the way back. Instead, I use more reach to reduce weight on my hands further: my elbows are ~2" in front of my knees when on the hoods or in the drops with forearms horizontal. I never have a problem with numb hands even on 18 hour rides.

SkepticalOne

I have the Domane SLR Disc as well as an older Domane 4.5. I would say the isocore handlebar has no perceptible comfort improvement. I would also say the front isospeed decoupler has less impact than the move from 25c tires to 28c or 32c.

If you want to feel a big improvement in overall comfort without going all-out with an SLR, an effective compromise would be a low-mid range disc-version of the domane allowing you to run 32c tires.

I also recommend a professional RETUL-style fit above all else. I recently did this on my new SLR and was shocked at the overall comfort improvement.

dvai

VERY helpful. Thank you all!

- Will get a good bike fit.
- Continue to improve core strength
- May upgrade to 28c tires for overall comfort-not expecting to solve the numbness.

Darth_Firebolt

you can also buy the isocore bars without buying the entire SLR 6. the isozone on the front end is more for larger bumps or rumble strip type stuff, while the isocore bars are for road buzz. just another option.

floridamtb

Try gloves with less cushioning, seriously I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it worked for me. I'd been wearing a nice pair of well cushioned gloves and I was getting numbness frequently. I have been fit by a certified fitter but the numbness was still there. So one day I wore less padded gloves while the others were drying from the day before... no numbness. So I thought I'd keep riding with them to see how it worked, and so far I've stuck with them, no numbness. I think you can actually get too much padding and it works against you, or the nerve in your hand. It could be just me, but hey it's worth a try.

fietsbob

racing is about winning, not comfort..


try padded gloves , under tape gel cushions?

Dan333SP

Win/win. A fit is a great investment, and we could all use more core strength. A set of new bars or tape without knowing whether they'll improve anything is not money well spent. An entirely new bike for the same reason is definitely a very bad investment.

Seems like BF may have saved you some money. You owe us all Christmas presents now. I like my GP4000 tires in 25mm width, please.