I’d guess that if your reach to the hoods, the usual cruising position on drop bars, at least on road bikes, is too long, then you need to adjust your bike setup. And the numb palms in the hooks might also indicate poor setup.
I have a very sensitive left palm (which is uncomfortable except on a drop bar after a few miles) but even with this, I can ride my bikes comfortably without gloves for 40 miles, and, I daresay, this would also be true for 50, mostly I ride mostly on the hoods, tho' often in the hooks and somtimes on the ramps; I rarely use the flats, as my bars are narrow. I do have a pair of gloves but I keep forgetting to put them on for longer rides. I use various kinds of bar tape, choosing it more for feel and grip on bare palms than for thick cushioning. I’ve always found that if you get the saddle in the right place, and this in particular: *if it has enough setback* to make your torso muscles support the weight of your torso, there is the least weight on your shoulders, arms, and hands; this even with bar top below saddle (mine are 2-3 cm below saddle). Tilt is also important for keeping pressure off your arms and hands; very much so on leather saddles, IME. Once the saddle is setup up, I get my bar and hoods where I comfortabley “fall onto them,” with elbows comfortably bent and hands “draped” over the hoods, all without much hand pressure; the “piano playing” test Grant wrote about years ago. I used to get a numb left palm on the hood, and in the hook, with drop bars, and thought that more thickly padded gloves would help, but despite trying heavily padded gloves and gloves of different designs, nothing helped and, in fact, some of the thicker gloves actually made the numbness worse. So I ended up addressing the saddle position / bar-to-saddle-position issue and that seems to have worked. Even now, my left palm tends to get numb in the hook, but I find I can ride 10 miles at a stretch if I move my left hand around in the hook frequently. My right palm could probably ride 30 miles or who knows how many in the hook without any discomfort, but my neck would tell me to stop before that happened. I wonder if bar shape and width affects your hand comfort. I feel most comfortable on narrow, traditional bend drop bars (38 to 42 max) and have done for decades, but I have never tested bar width against palm comfort. I do find anatomic drop bars uncomfortable in the hooks, preferring the long ends of the Maes Parallel and such that let you move around. I too have seen at least one long-distance tourer put Ergo type grips on the ends of his hooks, but me, I’d prefer to address fit if indeed this is the cause of your discomfort. On Fri, Mar 20, 2026 at 10:26 PM Galen Gruman <[email protected]> wrote: > (tl;dr? Just to the bottom for the questions.) > > I've been experiencing numbness in my outside fingers on my 61cm Roadini > with 54cm Noodle bars on an 8cm Tallux stem. Particularly after 30 or so > miles of on-road riding. It's become clear that most of the numbness comes > from gripping the bottom curve of the drops so I can keep my index fingers > on the brakes when riding curvy roads, downhill, and in areas with traffic > and driveways/intersections where quick brake access is needed. I get much > less numbness when I'm riding the flats of the drops near the bar end, and > that numbness is not focused on the outside fingers. > > I ride the drops nearly exclusively; I find the tops give me less control > and the hoods feel too far away. Back in the 1990s, I routinely rode my > Nishiki's tops with safety brakes, but I've never liked riding so far > forward as to favor the hoods. That hasn't changed now that I'm riding a > road bike again. I rode a 58cm Trek Domane last fall for a month and found > that riding the hoods was uncomfortable and quick to numb my hands, and the > whole far-forward geometry made me feel unstable and the 44cm handlebars > reduced my range of motion. (I have wide shoulders, and so I previously > rode an XL Trek FX3 hybrid for the width and stability; the L size that the > Trek bike shop recommended was again too small.) > > Riding the wide drops on the Roadini and reaching the brakes from the > drops not the hoods took care of all that. > > Still, with the hand numbness on longer Roadini rides, I thought maybe I > should get gloves with greater padding than my current ones, especially as > I am riding longer distances (I've done a couple metric centuries and a > true century planned for summer). When I went to the LBS to check out the > Specialized Body Geometry Dual Pad gloves, they suggested I get a quick fit > check in case the issue was about fit not gloves. > > The bike fitter absolutely hated the Roadini: too big, too wide, quill > stems are bad, handlebar not ergonomic, and I shouldn't be riding the drops > routinely. I know from test-riding a buddy's 57cm Roadini and from my month > on the 58cm Domane that my 61cm Roadini is not too big. Yes, the reach to > the hoods is further than on the Domane, but it's fine to the tops and > drops, where I ride. I had seen the Riv posts about their thoughts on > handlebar width and geometry being so different from the major > manufacturers, but I didn't get how diametrically opposed they are until > the bike fitter's clear disgust. Wow! > > Anyhow, the Roadini is an incredibly comfortable bike, and I can go a good > pace on the road and feel fully stable on turns and stops, unlike with the > Domane. > > Still, I wonder two things, and would live to get people's comments: > > - What are your thoughts on reducing or preventing hand numbness, > especially in my riding position of my hand at the base of the curve with > my index finger on the brake levers ("trigger finger" position) That bike > fitter thought the resulting hand angle was causing undue pressure, but I > can figure out any adjustment to address that. > - Should I be trying to find a way to ride the tops more? (That is, > how concerning is it that I am so drops-oriented?) > > Thanks! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fef4b7e2-ffa7-4e41-9af4-daec3c221e16n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fef4b7e2-ffa7-4e41-9af4-daec3c221e16n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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