solo79

So I have read some on this and I guess I am pinching nerves. But I need recommendations on fixing it. The numbness is driving me crazy and the only part of riding I do not like.

I bought some $10 schwinn gel grips and it is not helping. I am trying to be aware of keeping my wrist straight, but i think it is natural for them to bend so they end up ack that way.

Any good grip and glove combos I can try? I am riding a diamondback kalamar hybrid

dr_lha

Are you wearing gloves? If not get some. Also check your grip. Make sure you're not gripping too hard or putting too much weight on your hands.

salreus

Changing hand position helps a lot. I got Ergon Grips to allow more ways to grip the bar. But you deff want to do something, I went on a 2 hr ride with my wife last year, and her hand went numb and wasn't better for a few weeks. We were riding a path with a lot of runners getting ready for a marathon and she was over stressed and gripped harder than normal.

Amazon.com : Ergon GP3 Bicycle Handlebar Grip : Bike Grips And Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

sstorkel

For me, hand numbness is all about the angle of the handlebar and the position of the controls.

You want the controls position so that your wrists are fairly flat when you have your hands on the levers. Many flat bar bikes come with the brake levers and shifters set parallel to the ground, which often puts your wrists at an angle. You may need to loosen the controls and rotate them forward or back until your wrist is in a more flat position.

I also found that the angle of the handlebars makes a difference for me. A dead-straight bar forces me to rotate my wrists toward the center of the bike, which can eventually lead to numbness. Bars that sweep back a bit put my wrists in a more natural position, which helps prevent numbness. Bars like the On-One Mary have an extreme amount of sweep. I ended up with a Bontrager handlebar that's no longer available (the Race Lite "Big Sweep"), but was similar to the On-One Fleegle or the Misfit Psycles NUbar, which both have a 15-degree sweep. I think the bars I ended up with had 17-degrees of sweep.

mikiek

Hold your arms out in front of you and notice your hands/wrists. Rotate your hands and see where the most natural feel is. For me it is thumbs up and then tilted slightly towards each other. Remember the wrist position in relation to your arms, you want to be able to duplicate that when your hands are on the bars.

I fought this for a long time. I got about 80% there by going from a 110mm stem to a 90mm. Handlebar tilt got me another 5%. Modifying the hood angle (up or down the bar) got me about 5%. Lastly, leaning the hoods in gave about 5%. When I got all that close, my wrists were in the same position as when I was holding out in front of me.

That's a whole lot to play around with right there. You won't get it right the first time. It took me 4-5 weeks, because you have to make a tweak and then go ride. Take some tools with you when you do ride so you can adjust on the road. Keep in mind a very small adjustment - like 1/8" - can end up being the difference between misery and comfort.

Work on wrist strength also. As your ride progresses, wrists will get tired and cave in or out.

ronjon10

Flat out raise your handlebars so you're a little more vertical with more weight on your rear side. Also work on your core strength to reduce the load on your wrists. You'll get there and find all new uncomfortable things to work through!

Jarrett2

I had to go from a hybrid to a road bike to lose the numbness once I started doing longer rides.

JohnJ80

The biggest issue in this is properly holding the handlebar. You need to look at the anatomy of the hand and figure out how to not pressure the nerves. Basically this means using the part of the hand that bears weight when you would do a push up or the part of the hand you would use for a "karate chop".

Don't put weight on the area between thumb and index finger, between the pads of the heel of your hand in particular.. You don't need to have a death grip on the bars at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJPI...annel=bikbik39

ChrisZog

I started on a comfort bike and recently switched to a hybrid. Hybrid felt great when we did a quick 1 mile sprint the night we brought it home. But the next day we did a 12.8 mile, 1 hour ride and I definitely noticed the wrist pain/beginnings of numbness.

Gloves, more comfortable grips and bar ends to give a second hand position really helped with the 1 hour range. We haven't had a chance for a 2 hour ride yet so I'll get to give it a whirl this weekend. But I'd expect extra hand positions, an ergo grip, and good gloves should take care of numbness for most rides.