Bar tape causing numbness/tingling?

johngti

Just wondering if anyone has ever had an issue with bar tape causing hands to get numb/pins and needles? Is it possible for there to be too much padding? I've got Specialized gel tape on my defy 3 comp (the sort with the gel pads underneath) and I've had problems from the first ride. Bike fit seems fine, doesn't feel like I'm putting too much weight through my hands - the bike is a medium, previously had a defy 1 in medium/large and never had a problem. Just wondering if the gel means that my hands are getting a little too much support and the gel in the bars combined with the padding in the gloves is causing a pressure build up. Anyone got any similar experience?

keezx

Bar tape doesn't cause anything.
Your position on the bike does.

johngti

Realise I'm clutching at straws a bit! Trouble is, in every other respect, the bike is fantastically comfy. Absolutely no issues, don't have a slammed stem, fairly upright position, no aches or pains anywhere really so can't see how my position could change.

frisbee

Bar tape or more accurately lack sufficient padding can cause problems.

What is your usual hand position? On the hoods?

I've been conscious that my wrists kink a little bit with my current bar/lever alignment but fortunately it hasn't caused problems. When I need to replace the bar tape I'll try and sort it out.

johngti

Hoods and tops mostly, probably 5% on the drops. Could be the shifter position I guess

kayakerchris

You really have not given us enough information. is the tingling in the little and ring fingers or the thumb, index, middle?
how long do you have to ride before symptoms start. Do you get tingling at any other time, any other activities.

Anyway lack of information is not usually a problem!

I would look at your saddle, even 5deg will change the pressure on your hands significantly.

Look at how you hold the hoods. pros seem to ride with much less of the hand on the hoods so reducing nerve pressure. On the tops unhook your thumbs and rest them alongside the index finger. This significantly changes arm rotation and changes contact pressure points.

johngti

Whole hand at the moment but the focus changes. Mostly it's the little and ring fingers, right hand is worse than the left. When I first got the bike it happened on nearly every ride but then stopped. Thinking on, I have moved one 5mm spacer above the stem, could it be that that's caused a change? Everything else is fantastic.

Saddle-wise, I assume you're talking about lowering the nose by up to 5mm...?

And thanks

keezx

Don't think its the pressure on the hands.
Blood supply somewhere in the chain is obstructed and mostly its in the shoulder, may the wrists.

dj58

IIRC correctly with your M/L Defy 1 you had your stem in the positive up position, was this because you felt to stretched out, or do you not like a large saddle to bar drop?

How are the stem and bars set up on the M Comp 3, positive or negative. There is a 20mm difference in the head tube length between the M/L (185mm) and the M (165mm) plus 5mm with the spacer above the stem, I Presume you have more seatpost showing on the M, so is your relative position now lower than it was on the other bike?

Is there a difference in the STI's and hood shapes between the two bikes? Have you tried adjusting the position of the bars/shifters to see if that makes any difference. How about trying gloves with no gel padding.

johngti

Blimey that's a good memory! Same shifters so no difference in hood shape. The M/L did indeed feel stretched out and it's much less of a stretch on the M. The stem is still positive and up but its 100mm instead of 80mm fitted to the defy 1 so the actual difference in the saddle to bars drop will be less than 20mm (just done the maths - it's around a 13mm difference in favour of the defy 1). The upwards tilt was because when I started riding I was very inflexible and got neck ache to start with. By the time I moved it on, I'd ridden it with the tilt downwards for a while. I'd moved a 5mm spacer on the defy 1 too so I'm going to put it back on the 3 tomorrow and see if that cures the tingling. Height difference will be down to 8mm then. Looking at a picture of the defy 1, the hoods were a little lower on the bend of the bars so it could be that I've increased the angle my hands make relative to the hoods too by just enough to make it uncomfortable but moving that will entail new tape anyway. Thanks for the push - we'll see if anything works!

dj58

John, I remembered that you had posted a photo of your Defy 1 in the Your Road Bikes forum, Show us your Giant's, so had a look at it again.

If you are going to unwrap the Spesh bar tape to adjust the STI's why not put the original Giant bar tape back on and give that a try, then you could eliminate one way or the other if bar tape is part of the problem?

johngti

Still impressed that you remembered anything:)

I'll put the spacer back under the stem first and see if that fixes anything. I threw the giant bar tape away - it was white so would have gone anyway. If I need to adjust the shifters I'll probably get some pro digital carbon tape had it on the defy 1 and liked it a lot

kayakerchris

tingling in the hands is almost never a blood problem. I would say that in 20+ years of specialising in this sort of topic I have seen 5-10 people where the tingling in the hands was only due to a blood flow problem.

It is overwhelmingly due to localised pressure on the nerves. I agree that this can happen in the shoulders but the typical cycling posture of shoulders up around the ears is not going to cause pressure on the nerves.

Some people do get it at the elbow from a small muscle called anconeus which is in my opinion active in cyclists and this can cause the problem. occasionally cycling with the elbows very bent in TT position can cause the problem. The overwhelming majority though are from localised pressure at the wrist. This can be the wrong wrist position or the the wrong positioning on the bike.

Occasionally but unlikely in the majority off cyclists it could be a trapped nerve in the neck.

crikey

fairly upright position

Is your problem...

Put your seat down by 1cm and back by 2cm and see how you go. Your bum should take more weight than your hands; make it so.

johngti

I've had a good look over the bike this afternoon and I think it's probably the upwards angle that I've got the hoods at. Not far off level but enough that I need to angle my hand upwards at the wrist toget a hold and the I kind of need to rotate my fingers to get some power behind the brake levers. I've put the spacer back this afternoon and I'll be riding tomorrow so I'll see if that helps at all. Got some new bar tape on order so when that arrives I'll reposition the shifters.

Don't think I need to lower the saddle, most of my weight goes through my bum now. I might just try to point the nose of the saddle down slightly at some point.

This has been very informative - thanks all!

kayakerchris wrote:

tingling in the hands is almost never a blood problem. I would say that in 20+ years of specialising in this sort of topic I have seen 5-10 people where the tingling in the hands was only due to a blood flow problem.

It is overwhelmingly due to localised pressure on the nerves. I agree that this can happen in the shoulders but the typical cycling posture of shoulders up around the ears is not going to cause pressure on the nerves.

Some people do get it at the elbow from a small muscle called anconeus which is in my opinion active in cyclists and this can cause the problem. occasionally cycling with the elbows very bent in TT position can cause the problem. The overwhelming majority though are from localised pressure at the wrist. This can be the wrong wrist position or the the wrong positioning on the bike.

Occasionally but unlikely in the majority off cyclists it could be a trapped nerve in the neck.

johngti

Rode today and really tried to pay attention to how my wrists felt. There was a definite upwards turn on the thumb side and I could feel a little pressure running down my thumb and into my wrist. I'll pop the tape off tomorrow and move the STIs down the bars a bit to level it off and see how that changes things.

johngti

An update after a couple of months riding. Swapped the bar tape to pro digital carbon, changed the angle on the bars very slightly upwards and moved the shifters about 5mm further up the bars. Cumulatively these changes seem to have completely fixed the problem. Lovely and comfy now

Thanks for all the input