numb toes

happy rider

Can anyone tell me, why when i go for a long ride, do my little toe's go numb? it is a very strange feeling. :roll:

Finbar Saunders

Could be a number of reasons including your shoes being too tight. Numbness is usually caused by a reduction in circulation. Do your shoes have straps? Try loosening them for a while on the ride. And check the fit.

DCowling

Happy Rider

Hi, I have only been into the whole bike thing a couple of months and suffer the same problem and have only just narrowed it down to the following.

1. Shoes were a little too tight, have since slackened them and has helped a little.
2. played around with my saddle postion, fore - aft , up - down . fine tuning it to suit. this may sound anal but I wore an older pair of shoes with worn thin soles and found the saddle need tweeked a little compared to my new shoes ( not bike shoes )
3. I am now into the realms of spending money and what I assume is chasing the dream of finding the perfect saddle. from what I have read on here and on various web-sites, harder saddles are generally better for longer hauls as you maintain pressure on the sit bones as opposed to ' settling ' into the saddle and pressure being applied to the more fragile areas ( perineum) where it can cause penile numbness and transferred numbness due to the pressure on arteries and nerves. It's the looking for the correct saddle that is going to be hard as everyone has thier own preference and the prices seem to range all the way up to £500
4. feet there seems to be a school of thought that the actual pressure you put onto the peddle is responsible for the numbness, this is because you are either over exerting on the peddl all the time ( wrong gear / trying too hard) or sheos are not rigid enough and are not spreading the pressure of the peddle. evidently this can be aleviated by gel inserts or a stiffer shoe , such as cycling shoes.
My next step is to go for change of saddle and probably gel insert for shoes, as I do not have the correct peddle type and would inccur the expense of having to buy new peddles as well as shoes.
I do hope this helps, but as I said , most of it is what I have gotten fro tinterweb, Currently I can only do about 1 hour and a half in the saddle before the numbness becomes too much and have to stop for a break

p.s.
if you come accross any decent saddles let me know as I do not believe that a £500 saddle will be the answer, especially as I am at entry level and still looking to buy a new bike for the samne sort of money

Rich Hcp

Shoes too tight around the foot

kingrollo

I had this problem - couldn't fathom it.

I had been waering the same shoes for a good few years - so it couldn't possibly be the shoes I thought. However What I read was that your feet expand as they get warmer - if there isn't room - this will slow the circulation to your foot - and give you the numb cold feeling that you describe.

I brought a pair of northwave vertigo shoes - a size up from my normal size - and this has mostly cured the problem. The vertigos are a wide shoe - but without the massive price tag of something like sidi mega. I got mine for £60 - but the full price is only £90.

Gel inserts to cover the ball of your foot also help, as do calf stretches. However the big thing for me was larger shoes - see if you can pick up a pair of larger shoes in the classifieds - just to see if this works for you.

Rich Hcp

Generally, you need to go up a size from normal shoe sizes

This allows for expansion when you get warmed up

DCowling

Happy Rider

Hi, just thought I would give you an up-date
I went out on a 30 miler last night and tried wearing trainers as opposed to the karriomor's I usually wear, in a bid to cushion the sole ( instead of gel)
It made no difference
anyhow just thought you would like to know that a more cushioned inner sole did not help, so my next move is to look into saddles
I kind of like the idea of a leather one as these are supposed to mould to your seat over time

Weejie54

I kind of like the idea of a leather one as these are supposed to mould to your seat over time

It is quite some time though....

My 1993 saddle has covered some miles and is still a wee bit on the 'breaking in' side of 'broken in'.

DCowling

Weejie54 wrote:

I kind of like the idea of a leather one as these are supposed to mould to your seat over time

It is quite some time though....

My 1993 saddle has covered some miles and is still a wee bit on the 'breaking in' side of 'broken in'.

You have just changed my mind, thankyou for the tip

kingrollo

DCowling wrote:

Happy Rider

Hi, just thought I would give you an up-date
I went out on a 30 miler last night and tried wearing trainers as opposed to the karriomor's I usually wear, in a bid to cushion the sole ( instead of gel)
It made no difference
anyhow just thought you would like to know that a more cushioned inner sole did not help, so my next move is to look into saddles
I kind of like the idea of a leather one as these are supposed to mould to your seat over time

Be aware there are a group of nerves in the centre of your foot - once these are inflammed - they take a while to calm down. So Gel inserts or trainers won't have an immediate fix.

Charge Spoon - would I think be a good saddle to try - as it is well rated - and only costs around £25

yorkshirespanner

I have a 1987 Peugeot Perthus road bike that has full Shimano 600 gearing, I have to change the cassette as there are a few teeth broken, as a new chain will also be required, I would also like to change the chainrings from the present 52/42 to 50/39 does anyone know if this is possible without having to remove the cranks?

louthepoo

yorkshirespanner wrote:

I have a 1987 Peugeot Perthus road bike that has full Shimano 600 gearing, I have to change the cassette as there are a few teeth broken, as a new chain will also be required, I would also like to change the chainrings from the present 52/42 to 50/39 does anyone know if this is possible without having to remove the cranks?

why dont you try opening this question in a new topic, more people will see it there

fat_homer

DCowling wrote:

Charge Spoon - would I think be a good saddle to try - as it is well rated - and only costs around £25

+1 Spoons are great saddles, I've got one on my mtb, its 5th saddle in 2 years and its great. The first thing I did when I got my new road bike was fit one!

dombo6

Try Specialized BG insoles that have a metatarsal button behind the ball of your foot. This is a raised bit that spreads the metatarsal bones and helps prevent them pinching the nerve. Another thing you could try are separate foam "buttons" that you stick to the insoles to do the same thing. Cyclefit in Covent Garden sell them and they're only about a fiver the pair.

mattward1979

Just to mix it up a bit, could be your pedals... if your point of contact with the pedal is putting too much pressure on the centre of your foot, rather than dispersing the pressure evenly, it could cause some discomfort on the outside of the foot...

I had the same thing recently, and a quick cleat repositioning sorted it out.

You could try moving the cleat so that when on the pedals, the cleat is closer to the outside of your foot.

EDIT:

Never mind, just read again and the OP doesnt seem to be using clipless!