[BKQuill]

...on the bike that is.

My problem is this; I was about 3 or 4 miles into a ride and my hands felt tingly, sort of like they were falling asleep, it was worse on descents. They felt fine during climbs, now I DH ride mostly and it's never bothered on my DH bike.

I'm thinking that I need to replace the stem and possibly the bars? So with that little information that I described, any thoughts?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[slimshady]

Hmmm... If it has never happened to you in the past, I would agree it's a riding position issue. But I'd try changing your grips, the Specialized Body Geometry ones are the best IMHO... Or your gloves, try to find a pair with more padding (my vote on Spec BG's again). Maybe you are gripping the handlebar too tight...

 

[slowitdown]

...on the bike that is.

My problem is this; I was about 3 or 4 miles into a ride and my hands felt tingly, sort of like they were falling asleep, it was worse on descents. They felt fine during climbs, now I DH ride mostly and it's never bothered on my DH bike.

I'm thinking that I need to replace the stem and possibly the bars? So with that little information that I described, any thoughts?

Thanks,
Brian

why do you think you need to replace the stem and bars?

from my experience I would guess your problem is in how you ride the bike, not how the bike is equipped. it sounds like this is a rider issue, not a bike issue.

you need to figure out

- how to sit on a bicycle... for example, don't grip the handlebar so tightly that your hands, wrists, forearms go numb within 5 minutes of starting your ride. RELAX.

- how to set up the vertical distance between saddle and handlebar -- saddle height vs handlebar height. if your handlebar is a lot lower than your saddle, you are basically leaning downhill onto your hands.

- how to set your saddle attitude -- if your hands get tired fast, your saddle probably is tilted downward, in a nose-down position.

When you are fit to your bicycle properly, there should be very little weight-bearing or pressure sense on your butt/saddle contact points, and on your hands/grips contact points.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Find a decent bike shop and get a proper fit. If something doesn't fit you right they should be able to tell. Tingling/numbness almost always means your riding position is off.

 

[BKQuill]

I'll head to the LBS this week. Thanks for the advise guys.

 

[drumbum540]

eh, Ive felt tingly in the fingers before. my only 2 cents are, maybe your fingers arent strong enough? I dont know how physically fit you are, so its just an idea. I know I had problems with that and after doing things like deadlifting weights it helped a lot. you might be gripping too tight as well. but, since youre DH rider, id think you know how to grip a bike when going downhill. good luck!

 

[butters-lsd]

to me if your riding position is off your back would hurt before your hands, if the seat is off your balls go numb,clipless cleats off=knees...
in my experience hands being tinglely or going numb has to do with the grip and glove combination you are using. when gripping the bar with your gloves on your pointer finger should slightly be touching your thumb. if it overlaps grips are too small, if it's too far away grips are to big. the shop i deal with has a bar set-up to try out different combos and with lock-on type grips it makes it a lot easier.

 

[cecil]

loosen your grip, elbows up

 

[swoody]

I would check the tilt of your seat. I felt tingly fingers before I had my bike setup properly, and found that my saddle was tilted too far down in the front. You also have to keep in mind that since you are now riding more predominantly downhill, your seat is tilting even farther forward due to the hill, and is putting even more of your weight out onto your hands. This also explains why when you're going uphill it's not as bad - your weight is being pushed back more due to the incline of the hill, and it's removing your body weight from the handlebars. Try tilting the front of your saddle up quite a bit, and see how it feels


-Woody

 

[runawaymachine]

Is the sweep of your bars diffrent on your DH bike?

 

[Dgremlin]

I was having the same problem. I tried lowering the nose of the seat, the seat height and raised the stem a bit. All this helped some but when I put on a set of medium rise handle bars the numb hands went away completely. I also think I have more control in a slightly more upright riding position.