JOHNHOF

I notice that as the mileage increases per ride I am feeling pins and needles in my hands and arms. I am trying to determine if this is something I need to ride through that will go away with time in the saddle or if this is a issue with bike setup. I adjusted the seat height and angle (it was off) and that helped some. I wonder if the distance to the bar is not farther out than it should be and putting stress on my hands and arms. I am considering replacing the bar stem with one that brings the bar back a little. Any thoughts? The bike is a 1997 Schwinn Frontier GSX that I put Bontrager hybrid tires on so I could ride paved paths and the Katy Trail. I am a 58 Y/O male and in the last month or two I started riding again on a regular basis. Average between 8 to 15 miles per ride at this point.

friday1970

Yep, go with a shorter stem. You want to push pressure on the areas below the pinky finger, not on the other side closer to the thumb. If I recall correctly, there is a vein through the middle of your hand, and if there is too much pressure on this, it will give you the pins and needles feeling.

philbob57

Also 2 nerves. Search the web for info - lots is easily available.

Could be setup, Could be position. Could be carpal tunnel syndrome. Could be....

JasonD67

If I don't wear cycling gloves when I ride (even on a trainer) I'll get that sensation in my hands. Also, you may want to get new, thicker bar tape to help cushion your hands.

DrDyno

I, too, had wrist and forearm problems. I got one of these (below) from Amazon and, working my way up the degree marks, finally settled on 40°. They sell them for under $20.00 and be sure to check whether you need the 25.4mm or 31.9mm for your handlebar diameter.

REDMASTA

probably the nerve, putting too much weight on the bars, not that uncommon

livedarklions

Bar ends that allow you to change your hand position to vertical could help. 8-10 miles is awfully quick to get tingling, so you're definitely putting pressure on the nerves.

CliffordK

It is not uncommon, but if you feel numbness coming on, take a hand off the bars for a bit to stretch, or find a different hand position.

There are reports of sometimes severe cases of numbness lasting for days or weeks.

berner

Sometimes the angle of the wrist with the bar causes a nerve to be pinched. I've had that happen in the past. I would experiment with rotating the bar a bit.

Jicafold

Yeah...umm...veins are for blood. It's the median nerve at the volar side of the wrist.

McBTC

all of the above and... Since grab- ond are not used anymore, definitely think about putting a couple of wraps on your bars and utilizing gel pads... you can think about possibly working in the use of a pair of clip-ons in your workout but, aerobars take awhile to get used to at your Advanced age :-)

Doctor Morbius

Like many others, I also had the needles and pins effect in my hands. It turned out to be carpal tunnel syndrome and not related to bike fit. Had surgery on each wrist and now I'm fine.

Gresp15C

In my case, a similar issue led to discovery of a pinched nerve in my neck. I don't know what made it go away, because I tried a few different things at once, including physical therapy. One of the things I did was to adjust my bikes for a more upright riding posture.

An unrelated but possibly pertinent issue: I also find that MTB style bars pound the hell out of my wrists, but that I can ride on swept bars with little or no discomfort.

Witterings

I'd try a shorter stem and if that doesn't help (or if it does but not 100%) might be worth getting a bike fit ... I've seen quite a few posts suggesting pins and needles is caused by wrong seating position and I know I bought it on when experimenting with moving my saddle further back.

wipekitty

Definitely get a bike fit...or, if that's not in the budget, play around with saddle and handlebar positions to try and alleviate some weight on the hands and arms. Working on core strength can help as well.

It could also, as others have mentioned, be something unrelated to cycling (a chat with a doctor may be in order).

I'm unfortunately one of those people who got a numb hand that lasted for 2-3 weeks. Working out bike fit has eliminated hand numbness, even on very long rides.

indyfabz

The song "Needles and Pins" is stuck in my head.

Flip Flop Rider

could always go recumbent

Garfield Cat

I am still experimenting with the hand positioning. I do have that problem and its not going away. I admit I did not go to the fitter to make adjustments.

For me, this is how I see it, at least for now.

On a typical road bike bar, there might be maybe 4 positions to take. 1. on the hoods; 2. on the drops; 3. in-between under the hoods; 4. on the horizontal part of the handlebar.

For me, all 4 positions get my arms and hands to go in a perpendicular somewhat 90 degreee angle. So I decided to experiment by decreasing that 90 degree angle. I could do that on the hoods and on the in-between positions. But it was awkward to keep arms and wrists "straight" without any kind of angle bend. I could do that for a short while and presto, no numbness.

I would like to change the handlebar so that the holding position on the black hoods, to be bent slightly inwards, thus reducing the arm/wrist angle.

Witterings

Love doing some hard riding in that position .... but it's not my preferred when there's a bike involved

MikeyMK

It sounds like the handlebar is putting too much pressure on the outer part of your palm. If you sit on the bike, leaning a pedal against a solid object, with the handlebar clamp loosened, you can retest the bars until the pressure is even across the palm.

JerrySTL

Which Katy Trail are we talking about. The Katy Trail in Missouri can be somewhat bumpy in places. Make sure to not over-inflate your tires. You probably can go with something like 70 psi if your tires are at least 700x32's and you don't weigh more that 215 lbs. Guess how I know.

Also get a good pair of cycling gloves. I like gel gloves that are a little loose as my hands tend to swell up.

You might be able to fink some more comfortable handlebar grips for the bike.

Lots of good info from the above posters.

MikeyMK

The Girvin suspension stem didnt last long in the MTB world but i'm surprised i never saw one on a road bike. Why? There are always a couple on UK ebay.

JOHNHOF

I adjusted the saddle and rode 20 miles and the issue was not as bad so I think some fine tuning of the saddle and bar plus saddle time will correct this. It is getting cooler here and I bet my winter gloves will also relieve this.
Thank you for the assistance with this.
John

Pulsify

seat height, bike frame size, handlebars. could be many things, go into your lbs

Phil_gretz

Folks will point you to the hands and handlebars as the offending spot. But you must think of your nervous system as a system, and consider the full anatomy before you eliminate potential sources of this issue. The nerve root for these is at the C8/T1 area of the spine. You may be tensing or doing something that is impinging anywhere along the route from to the fingertips. Posture matters, as does weight balance, as does core strength, as does hand placement.

I'm guessing that you don't "lean" into your hands when you ride, right? You work to keep a light touch on the bars?