Originally Posted by
Iride01
If you happen to find out that your palms get a little numb after an hour and a half or two, then that's probably partly due to having your arms and elbows too straight for that upright position.
Two ways you can deal with that. More reach to stretch you out. Or, get use to keeping a lot more bend in your elbows. I use to have my reach stretched out when I rode way oversize bikes for my size. However on a bike size that more properly fits me, I find that a large bend in the elbow works better and allows more temporary options for your position on the bike while you are riding. Though getting use to that big bend in the elbows has been a challenge for me since I'm so use to that stretched out position.
There is a difference between stretched out and bent elbows. Ideally, one wants about a 90° angle between upper arm and torso. The idea is that then the upper arm is just a strut, no muscle force at the shoulder necessary. The further one deviates from that, the more shoulder area muscle is required to hold that angle. The odd thing is thing about that 90° is that as one then bends the elbows to get lower, that angle doesn't change much. Anyway, that's why the center of the range of shoulder angle shown by MyVelofit is about 90°