numb hands

tozi1

I'm sure this a very common query-so apologies if i missed the thread-did try a search,my hands get numb almost immediately ,I wear gloves-specialized-they have padding that is meant to help,perhaps it's the riding position .I have been a joiner for many years,and one of my customers said the nerve in middle of the hand can get damaged by the repeated hitting of say a chisel with the palm of the hand.Any ideas or will I have to live with it?

redddraggon

Lower the pressure of your front tyre to around 80psi, should still be safe from snakebites, but will make a world of difference to comfort.

JGS

Also don't hold onto your bars too tightly. There's a variety of padded gel tapes you can get too, like Specialized's BG Bar Fat, which have gel pads which help a bit. Personally I found that the way I had set up my bike I was leaning too much onto straight arms. A bit of fettling and I had bent arms and more weight on my saddle, which has resulted in a lot less buzz. However unless you want to spend a LOT of cash on a full carbon setup (which won't neccesarially help) then you'll have to live with a little numbness..

mitchgixer6

You didn't mention if you've been cycling for a while or have just started/returned.

I just started road riding and I had the same problem. I pinpointed it to holding on too tightly to the bars. Once I got used to riding the bike I found it much easier to loosed my grip. Also got hold of some gel gloves that seem to really help too.

If that doesn't help it may be a bike setup/size problem.

tozi1

Many thanks.Much information there-I suspect I do grip the bars too tightly-I'll check out the bent arm thing,and lower the tyre pressure at the front.V.helpful.Good stuff!

GavH

Look for some Specialized BG Gloves which have gel inserts specifically to protect the Ulnar nerve. No doubt there are many other similar brands available also. Getting used to riding more actually helps as well. That said, setup and tyre pressure as already mentioned will have a potentially instant effect for next to no cost. If it's an older bike, new bar tape could have an impact as well. Easy to fit and at about £6 a roll, it'd certainly be worth a try.

will3

Are your bars too low? This will often cause you to put too much weight on your hands.

Best to get this sorted, as otherwise you'll end up with ular neuropathy AKA handlbar palsy which is not nice.

Rev\'d Gatlin

Hello,

I struggled from jellied fingers and numb palms until I loosened my grip,varied my hand positions around the bars ( I was permanently resting on the shifters) and got measured for my bike setup.

So far so good. Hope that helps.

CiB

Gel gloves are a bit hit & miss so if poss see if you can try before you buy. They either have too much, or it's in the wrong places, or there isn't enough. If there's too much it bunches up under the glove and you end up riding on a ridge that digs into your palm, which is worse than no gloves.

robthehungrymonkey

I also suffer from this, better gloves did make a difference... but i still suffer. For me, i think it's more of the pressure rather than buzz.

I haven't tried lowering my front tyre psi though (probably should have thought of that...)

tozi1

Lots of ideas.Cheers everybody-hadn't thought about the bars being too low-good point,I certainly hope I can improve things,at the moment i keep having to take one hand off at a time to restore feeling!