Hands?

[lock]

Me and the girlfriend decided to buy road bikes  , we cycled before but now when we are cycling she complains about her hands and wrists that start hurting and then go numb, is this the new way of gripping the handlebars? How can we solve this? Will a shorter stem help? New gloves?

[100Tours]

chances are it is more about seat position than handle bar - she has too much weight on her hands. Go to a bike shop and ask for help with your setup, or look up a bike setup technique (what to measure and how to arrange the various parts on the bike).

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Yeah, she's placing too much pressure on one of the nerves that runs through the hand/wrist area. A proper bike setup should fix it up. Alternatively, just tell her to suck it up and stop complaining. Then make for the nearest bomb shelter and hibernate for about 2 weeks...

 

[Minion]

If you want to get a proper bike setup done, have a look at Cycle fit. I had my setup done and I'm very impressed with the results.

[turtlek]

if you are in the paulshof area i can offer my services to set her up on her bike i do setups in the frits pienaar shop there and i should be able to help find the problem and organise a solution

[slowtwitch]

geez you guys don't have anything better to do on a friday night?

[lock]

Cool thanks guys, so a pro bike fit it will have to be then...

[Slowbee]

lock, as the guys have said - its got to do with the angle of the wrists on the bar. You need to try and get as close as possible to not having a 90 degree angle between the palm and the forearm.

 

Things like riding holding onto the "outside" of the hoods will help as this is a straight line. When holding onto the bar, shifting from having the bar in the middle of the palm to the back of the palm also help.

 

But before doing these things, make sure the bike has been fitted correctly and DONT let the salesperson con you that expensive gel gloves will solve the problem. They dont. The gloves make the ride more comfy - but dont solve the root cause of having to much weight on the hands.

 

[lock]

Thanks slowbee, I'll keep the gel in mind when they start pointing towards it... 

[waylonza]

Like Edman said, CycleFit is the only way to go...