foxden

After riding my road bike for about 300 miles, my only complaint was a slight tingling in my hands. I wear gloves and change hand posititions often but thought that my stem might be a bit too long. I had my LBS remeasure me and recalculate the stem I should have. The concensus was that a 90 mm would be better than the 100 mm on the bike. One little centimeter difference, not even 1/2 inch. Anyway they made the swap (no cost, too) and my last few rides were definitely an improvement. Hands haven't given me any more problems. This just underscores the importance of fit.

Olebiker

I had an interesting thing happen with numb hands recently. I bought a new frame and decided to try Grant Petersen's idea of having the bars even with the saddle. I did two rides of about 32 miles each and suffered with numb hands. I could not find a position on the bars that relieved the numbness. I flipped the stem which placed the bar a couple of inches below the saddle. No more numbness...

That seems really counterintuitive to me but, having tried riding with the high bars I can tell you, it stinks. I am more convinced than ever that either Grant doesn't really ride or he must be anatomically wierd. I haven't found any of his bike fit advice to pass the giggle test.

ManBearPig

I had an experience like that -- flipping the stem felt more comfy. I attributed it to the change in arm angle. Flip the stem, arms rotate downward. I explained the counterintuitive results like this. Picture doing pushups two different ways -- with arms straight down, easy. With arms out in front, harder.