river251

My biggest comfort problem is my hands. Maybe my weight is not in the right place(s). What part of your hand carries the weight when you're on the hoods?

Thanks for any info,
Jim

Nerull

Your hands shouldn't be carrying much weight on the hoods. That's a sign of your saddle being too far forward, usually. Your body should be balance so that you're holding the bars more than you're leaning on the bars.

DScott

Best to use the palmar surface of the hands. Anything else would be uncomfortable.

Try reading through this: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...905-Numb-Hands

pkpyro

Try using your core to lift some of the weight off the palm of your hands, or lower your seat a little bit.
The area just behind the webbing holds the weight for me... what little weight I put on it, that is. I also taped some jelly-like cushion I found to make the ride more comfortable on the hoods.

rat fink

The entire width of my hands carries the weight.

MichaelW

Your hands shouldn't carry much weight but it should be on the palm of your hand, NOT the web or the outer edge.
If you dont like the grips you can reprofile them by stuffing small bits of inner tube under the hood covers. Before you do this, analyse your riding position as a whole and make sure you are riding with relaxed shoulders and bend elbows.

river251

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Sounds like I am not doing it right. My fit guy moved the (105) hoods up on the curvature of the bars, because I complained of too much weight on the web area of my hand. Now where the hood stops, and the bar starts, it's not an even continuous line, but where they meet there is an angle between hood and bar of about 150 degrees, or the bars angle up at about 30 degrees from the hood. I have very large hands. The result is my weight is right on where the bar angles up from the hood, and corner of my palm near the wrist and outer (karate chop) edge, near the wrist bone that sticks out there. After a couple hours this area hurts. Moving doesn't help, my hands always slide back to that. Think I need to move the hoods back down the front bend, so the hood-to-bar transition is flat?

Thanks for the great help. I feel like I am slowly getting there. Getting a new bike to fit for long rides takes a while I guess.

Jim

oldbobcat

If you're using a compact flat-top bar, lower the hoods and level the bar for a flat horizontal platform from the hoods to the stem. Then level the saddle and slide it back, in small increments, until you can hold your hands-over-the hoods riding position with little or no pressure on hands. Lowering the saddle a bit might be necessary. Channel your center of gravity. It should be basically in the vicinity of the bottom bracket. Reconsider stem length and height if necessary, then readjust.

river251

Thanks, that all makes sense, but i'm afraid i will need a smaller bike, which i am prepard for.
jim