Fizzy Hand Syndrome

[guffhoover]

Being a recreational mountain biker I have caught the road cycling bug and just bought myself a lovely new road bike. I expected a little more discomfort between the two bikes but currently i cannot stay on the road bike for more than an hour without my left hand first going fizzy and then completely numb, along with a feeling of strain in my forearm.

Using the British Cycling website as a guide it was clear that i needed to make some adjustments to the setup of the bike and I subsequently leveled the seat and brought it slightly forward, adjusted the handlebars so that the were more level and flipped the stem bringing the handlebar height to around 2cm under the seat height; it was previously 5cm's lower.

My first ride after these adjustments felt much better at first but after 30 mins on the bike my left hand was starting to go numb again.

I have tried gloves but this made it worse. I should also mention that my normal hand position is on the hoods.

Now I do have aspirations to ride a 100km journey at some point in the next 18 months but at the moment after 20km's i'm done.

Anyone else cured this issue themselves? At the moment I'm a bit loathed to have a professional fitting done. IMO a bike should not require that level of adjustment to ride without my arm going to sleep.

Guff.

[GarryDK]

Sounds like you're putting too much weight through your arms. Hold yourself up with your core not your arms.

[Jacobyte]

guffhoover said:

At the moment I'm a bit loathed to have a professional fitting done

If you're uncomfortable, then you should get a proper fitting done as a matter of course. It's not the bike itself which is at fault, it's the settings of saddle/bars/stem/pedals.

You might want to try a different saddle, as your sit-bones could be at such an angle on it that a referenced nerve is being disturbed.

[rdjohn]

I started cycling again last year as an Archilles tendon issue stopped me doing most other forms of exercise.

At the age of 63, my 20 year old Aluminium Hybrid caused huge amounts of pain in both hands and bum after about 30 mins, and it had not many years earlier. My self analysis came to the conclusion that it was more age related than bike related. My weight and fitness are OK so it is more an issue of old bones and lack of flexibility.

The bike was clearly transferring road / tyre contact vibrations to my body. I thought about a MTB with hydraulic forks , but instead decided on a Carbon Felt so that the forks and seat stem are able to provide a measure of damping from road vibration. It made a huge difference straightaway, the pain now comes after about 3 hours and is much worse if the surface of the road is open-textured rather than smooth. I also bought some GripGrab SuperGel Short Finger Gloves from Wiggle that made the final difference.

On a previous thread Dammit wrote about improving core strength and flexibility, I find that if I think about it, I can rotate my hips backwards which spreads the load in my bum better. Trouble is, it is hard to do this for hours at a time, but hopefully this will get even better over time. Perhaps then, I will have a Pro fit, but I think other issues are prevalent rather than the final few millimetres adjustment here, and there.

In summary, I doubt that there is much wrong with your bike, it's probably the man in the mirror.

[outnumbered]

I ended up with ulnar nerve problems a few years ago, ironically they were brought on by a new pair of Specialized "Body Geometry" mitts that were supposedly explicitly designed to avoid ulnar nerve problem !! Symptoms were similar to yours, tingling and numbness in hands, also pain on the outside of my wrist. It took bloody ages to get right afterwards, and I had problems with gripping and lifting things too.

I'd stop riding the bike until you get it sorted out, I'm sure in my case the inflammation got worse as I didn't realise soon enough it was the gloves causing it, and I'd only used them about 8 times.

[benny.c]

GarryDK said:

Sounds like you're putting too much weight through your arms. Hold yourself up with your core not your arms.

This cured my numb hands when I first started. I had a bike fit and was told I was riding effectively slumped over the bars, supporting far too much weight on my arms and shoulders. My bars were actually dropped a little to get the right position for me.

The correct position felt a little funny to start with, plus I really felt it in my stomach and triceps - previously my elbows were locked rather than bent.

[S10GTA]

GarryDK said:

Sounds like you're putting too much weight through your arms. Hold yourself up with your core not your arms.

This. Imagine a T-Rex riding a bike. That's how you should be.

[guffhoover]

I'll play around with my position on the bike. As i have no core strength, just a beer belly core on a skinny 6ft2 frame, coupled with poor flexibility and a natural hunchback it should be an intersting adjustment

[AndrewEH1]

Watch this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj3Db0ILNqM

[Dammit]

To put less weight on your hands the saddle needs to move backward, rather than foreward- that balances the weight of your torso. If you move the seat forward relative to the BB then you are trying to take weight off you hands whilst simultaneously leaning your whole body forward- not going to work.

The other thing to look at is saddle choice- if you can't "lean in" to the nose of your saddle then you will have to hold yourself off it- with your arms. Have a look at saddles with a cutout that enable you to put weight on them without crushing your Warrior.

I like the Selle SMP range for this reason.

[loudlashadjuster]

I was taught that for flats and climbs I should be able to ride with the backs of my fingers on the bars i.e. hardly any weight going through my arms. This forces you to engage your core which really helps with all manner of things on and off the bike.

Along with pedal stroke, shoulders, breathing etc. it's just another one of those things that I constantly correct in myself when riding. Over time though you can feel the improvement, and being in a similar situation to you (recent roadie after years on a MTB, less than 300km on it so far including a couple of 40-55km rides) I'm not suffering any problems.