I've adjusted the seat post up so that my leg is slightly bent when the pedal is at the bottom of the travel. When I ride for more than 30 minutes, my hands start to get numb. I still seem to be putting too much weight on my hands during the ride. Does anyone know if there is a way to move the handle bar further forward from the stock location? Does anyone make such a spacer? My bike is a mostly stock Giant Boulder SE with a 23-inch frame. Only mods so far have been knobbier tires and a spring loaded gel seat.
You can change the stem for one that is longer or raises the bars up or down. It just depends on what you need. Check with your local shop and see what they think you need. You're likely having to put too much of you weight out on the bars, so you'll probably want to raise the bars a little and move them closer to your body to reduce that stretch that puts the weight on your hands.
Agree with BigDumbBear. If you are currently having issues with numbness/pain in your hands because you feel you are putting too much wieght on them, you don't want more distance to stretch out farther. Up and back is the way you want to go to reduce the load on your hands. No offense to you, because I would speculate that the majority of us, including myself, share this "weakness," but weak abdominal muscles also put a greater strain on your back and hands. Strengthening your abs can help share the load and reduce the weight your back and hands are carrying.
I agree with all above, I am I little beat up from years of being a stuntman. I just changed my stem to shorter in length and a steeper rise. Then got me some riser monkey bars and let me tell you , It is very comfortable. Shoot my back even feels a little better on longer rides.But if you can't go that route try moving your seat angle, my seat points slightly up at the nose, shifting your weight back towards the rear of the bike,thus giving the tire more traction and relieving the strain on your hands. Cheers Jeff
Handle Bar Distance from Seat? To BigDumbBear, Thanks for the input! That sounds right, putting more weight onto the seat. I know it doesn't take too long before the tingley sensations arrive. The bike shop that I got the bike from measured me for a 23-inch frame. With exception to the tingles, it is a great ride.
Handle Bar Distance from Seat? To Xela, You all are right on, I think. The previous Mongoose (Walmart special) was way to short from seat post to pedals and I didn't like the twist grip shifter. Anyways, my hands never got numb, and that bike was way shorter as measured from the bar to seat post. Got to go down to the bike shop to get a couple more tubes and a tire, I'll ask what options I might have with bringing the bar back towards me. Thanks!!
Handle Bar Distance from Seat? To Livendadream, I can say that monkey bars were way more comfortable on my old motorcycle than the stock units any day. I know it looked silly, but I agree to the comfort zone. Thanks, I've got good info to bring with me over to the bike shop.
Random question, are you riding with gloves that have a padded "heel"? When I first started road riding years back I had numbness in my fingers from compressing my ulnar nerve. I narrowed the issue down to the padding in the gloves I had. Because of the padding I has putting to much pressure on the nerve and it was causing my hand to go numb. I switched to different gloves (and now ride without them all together) and the numbness is gone. In regard to getting a more upright position I found rollers to be the best way to gain abdominal strength and better bike position. However, rollers will likely only work if you are running smooth tires.
These really help numb hands Hi I have just started road cycling, and currently own a Trek 7.3FX. After a couple of weeks I tried and completed a 34 mile ride, but had a really bad numb left hand afterwards. After reading in some other forums, I came across these ERGON BIKE ERGONOMICS and have since purchased a pair, and can really recommend them, but obviously there won't fit drop bar bikes. The grips on the GR2's are very comfortable and the bar ends are great too. I would advise ordering the larger size (as opposed to the small version that I got), as the bar ends will be slightly longer (although I love the ones I have). I purchased mine from Merlin cycles very cheap and they arrived next day. Took me longer to remove the old grips, than it did to install the new ones. I would recommend either a soft mallet or simply place a cloth over the end plugs and then hammer in.... I have since completed long rides and no longer suffer from the numbness. Hope this helps. Pete
