Subdenis

I get numbness in my fingers on long rides. My bike was fitted for me. I am.going to install carbon fiber handle bars and thick tape.

Looking for recommendations on good gloves and any other recommendations

rsbob 

Specialized has an excellent cycling glove with double gel. Not bulky or bizarre. Go to their site. I also double wrapped the top bar and try to keep off the hoods except for shifting and fast descents. Try to get the weight off your hands - a strong core helps as well as raising your stack height.

SpedFast

I used an old innertube beneath my bar wrap because the bar feels too small otherwise. It feels good and absorbs shock and vibration. But like rsbob stated, too much weight on the hands is generally the culprit. As we tire we tend to lean forward and/or lock our elbows, both of which puts more pressure on the hands. Good luck

79pmooney

Weight on hands is less of an issue than where the bars/levers support that weight. Common on bikes is to place one's hand so the bar/lever is pressing against the palm back at the wrist between the big thumb base pad and the outer pad in line with your little finger. (No idea what those are called. I'm just looking at my hand.) That area has the primary nerves to your fingers running through it. Pressure there often causes numbness or tingling. I try to modify my favorite spots so my hand lands with the weight against the outside of that little finger pad area.

An easy research you can do next time you replace the handlebar tape - strip the old and ride the bike with no more than just enough electrical tape to keep your cables in place. Bring the tools for adjusting the stem height and handlebar rotation. Likewise the allen wrench and a small crescent wrench so you can move the brake levers. Before you go, mark or document everything related to your bars, stem and levers.

Now, ride, make a change and observe. Keep this up until you can ride without issues. (Or know this piece; lever, bars or stem, doesn't serve you well.) When you have arrived at a lot better, tape the bars from the bottom with the sticky back cloth handlebar tape. Now you can unwrap easily to the levers, tweak and re-wrap. Don't put the good stuff on until you know the "cockpit" is dialed in. Too much effort to snazzy the bike and inertia, that feeling of "it's close enough" sets in.

I ride bent forward a lot. I an long and skinny. No power and a lot of wind resistance. 70 years old. Upwind isn't fun. Having a bike that just feels 100% "right" when I have a lot of weight on m hands is where it's at. And all my bikes are. I started having issues like yours several years back. Both ton the drops and in the brake hoods. So I started playing with the handlebar rotation which changed the angle of both simultaneously. Now my bars are rotated forward and down to look "wrong" but my hands love it! No more issues; either during the ride or after.

I make no claims my setup would work for anybody else. But if it were not for my willingness to carry the wrenches and experiment, I probably would have hung the bikes up and done something else. Oh, you could start with simply rotating the handlebars. That one simple change varies a lot and will quickly tell you a lot. (First, placed a yardstick on the bottom straight portion of the handlebar drop and mark with tape where it hits the seatstay.)

bruce19

I have seen several Youtube videos in which bike fitters opine that the numbness you describe can be caused by the fore-aft position and/or tilt of the saddle.When I get any numbness I change had position and after the ride I reassess my position on the bike.

Subdenis

Thanks all. I think adjusting my seat may help as I tend to be forward. I am putting thicker tape on bars, and I will look for the specialized gloves thanks. Denis

genejockey 

My test for "am I too far forward?" is whether I can lift my hands off the bars without falling forward. Don't try it on the road! Trainer only!

Iride01 

Do you place your hands on the bars or hoods so that the palm of your hand is supporting your weight? Are your wrists bent? If yes to either of those questions, then you'll have numb hands after a period of time no matter how padded your gloves or bars.

ThermionicScott 

Move your hands between positions more often.

Mtracer

For me, numbness is about weight on my hands, not padding of gloves or bars. Though I think that helps damp road buzz. Something that really affects numbness for me is saddle tilt. I like a little nose up on the saddle. This supports my pelvis. I don't care how strong your core is, at holding you up, no matter what, you're leaning out over the saddle and the forces are trying to make you body fall forward. Something must offset this. It can either be your arms and hands, or something else is going to have to happen at the saddle.

For, me, having the nose up provides support to my pelvis to keep it from rolling forward on the saddle. Obviously, some people have a problem with numbness on their saddle contact points, and too much nose high is an issue. It's not for me. I assume there are variations in people's pelvis such that others get this same support with a level or even nose down tilt.

This issue became very apparent to me after a bike fit a few months back. The fitter wanted me to try a more level saddle. I was about 30 minutes into my first ride after that fit, and hands were as numb as they could get. I remembered the saddle tilt change from the fit, and on the road, tilted it up slightly, problem gone. Does this mean I never get numbness, no. Like others have said, sometimes you just need to move your hands around.

Something else that affects me is how hard I pedal. If for some reason I'm taking it easier on the bike, I will get some numbness. I think this results from not pushing very hard on the pedals. The forces applied to the pedals also help to hold you up.

KerryIrons

Unless someone has "rapid onset numbness" then this is by far the best advice. Be aware of when your hands start to feel numb (some people just don't seem to pay attention until their hands are totally numb). And yes, a strong core and good bike position help.

rm -rf

Hoods and drops!
I have the tops of my bars set about an inch below the top of the saddle. The end of the drops point toward the rear caliper brake area. The base of the hoods are slanted upward.
So: sitting on the bike in a doorway, I can "shake out" my arm to get a neutral hand angle, reach to the hoods, and hold the hoods without bending my wrist. I moved the hood position while in the doorway to get to this setup.

The biggest help is that the drops are high enough that they are another comfortable hand position. Many riders have the "pro" look, with bars set low, and rarely use the drops.
Switching back and forth between hoods and drops is really helpful to me. And the wide whole palm contact in the drops is way better on bumpy roads for hand comfort and bike control, too.

When using the drops, it's more aero, of course. and it stretches out my back a bit, which is helpful. (looks "expert" too...)

(I don't have hand numbness, just old person finger joints soreness, and likely less palm padding under the skin.)

Back in the day, when I tended to lock my elbows too much, I'd get sore shoulder joints, not just sore hands.

Saddle position:
I like to have the rear portion of the saddle (where my weight is) just about level. That reduces any sliding forward for me. The nose is slightly up, but that's okay for me, maybe not for everyone.

fore-aft balance
This fitter video was very useful to me. (ignore the considerably low bars here, mine are way higher.)
How to set saddle fore aft position, starting at 3:58
Basically, the test is moderate pedaling on a trainer: can the rider slowly lift hands off the bars without sliding forward?

DVC45

Move you bars up a little and move your saddle back a little.

Pop N Wood

I get numbness in my hands from spinal stenosis in my upper vertebrae.

Doesn't happen on the recumbent.

tcs

Make an effort not to let your head drop.

john m flores 

How tight are you gripping the bars? You should grip them lightly, as if you're holding an uncooked egg.

hevysrf

My hand numbness comes from a combination of weight distribution and hand placement, too much weight on my hands instead of my a** and/or center of pressure between thumb and forefinger and I'm hurtin.

25 upright miles on a cruiser with hand grips nearly parallel to the bike frame doesn't seem to cause any problem.

ofajen

I found this thread helpful:

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...umb-hands.html

Specifically, read post number 7. Discussion and some pictures about ways to position your hands so that the weight borne is less over major nerves in the hands.

Otto

SpedFast

Thanks ofajen, I don't have a problem with numbness, but still found the piece by DannoXYZ very informative.

Pratt

I get numbness in my left hand. Seems to be ulnar nerve impingement up around my armpit, possibly at the intervertebral opening.