Numb Hands While Cycling? - 7 Causes

I had a customer recently with saddle discomfort (I’m a salesperson not licensed bike fitter). Saddle was definitely too far back, so he’s sitting on the nose. I told him just move it forward and possibly lowering the saddle. He responded with, “I’ll feel better if I just bought a new saddle”. 🙄 Some people just like to throw money at a problem and expect it to improve

Honestly out of all the bike fit videos on the internet, James’s methodology and the way he’s able to explain it in the laymen’s term makes the most sense.

Bike fit Tuesday’s have really helped me with James advice. His advice with putting cleats all the way back was spot on. No more sore knees or back. I hand numb hands and fingers. Went from a 44 to a 40 handlebar which also had less reach…Shazam, no more numb hands. These simple changes brought back the joy of cycling

I was ill and sedentary for almost three years. Getting back to cycling with already problematic shape (long legs, short torso) and 20 kgs extra, my hands were killing me and almost sold my bikes but managed to make my racier bikes work thanks to bike fit tuesdays :)

I get numb hands when I am fatigued. When not fatigued, my bike fit is perfect. There is something to be said for good physical fitness. Riding a road bike just isn't always comfortable.

It would be great if you made a video about how to get your fit the same across multiple bikes (road, gravel, climbing, mtb).

Always love the bike fit videos! 🙌 I wish there were more people in the industry with his bike fitting knowledge & enthusiasm 😩

This is so simply and well explained. Gonna refer to this video each time people talk to me about their fit issues. Big thanks

Theres nothing I love more than listening to an expert discuss their craft. This guy oozes competence. For my next bike fit im going to have to find someone on his wavelength. Hopefully thats possible

Every time I've tried out suggestions from this channel it's made a big difference for me. I do mostly ultra-endurance/long-distance rides so a perfect fit is absolutely critical. At 5'6" I've always felt that bike sizing is a bit whack, but this channel is great at spelling out why and how to correct it.

You and James are living legends ✊🏾👊🏾

#8 gloves, particularly short-fingered ones. Extending my fingers and arms to frequently shift and brake causes the gloves to pinch the nerves at the base of my fingers, resulting in numbness. Long, fast descents make it worse. A quick shaking of my hands, or slapping my legs, makes them good to go again.

7 top, practical advice notes. Excellent informative Bike fit Tuesday vlog. Nice one gents 👏

When riding I found myself continually trying to push myself back into my saddle and so I kept moving the saddle forward incrementally thinking it was too far back when in fact I needed to do the exact opposite to improve my stability and weight distribution. Sometimes the solution to bike setup problems can seem counterintuitive.

Great content, just got my new addict 10 and I’m having some hand pain so this is perfect timing.

I love the bikefit videos. They helped me a ton!

I'm finally changing from my Eddie Merxx era bars on my vintage bike. The stem length is about right, but those 160mm drops! Also crazy long reach on those bars. Constantly riding on the corners just where compact bars would put the hoods. All this was fine 45 years ago when I was more flexible! I also will try canting those Nouveau Record levers inward as I'm going from a 42cm to a 40cm bar. I'm riding a '79 Dave Moulton. Losing some vintage looks for functionality!

Another excellent video thanks James for the insight

Had an issue with thinking that been off the bikes for years. I went ahead to reduce the reach on my bike. Which resulted in me riding hunched, and with hands being numb I thought the reach was still too long and I went on to move the saddle forward. Went for a bike fit on my new bike and was told my stem is a little too short and the saddle was also moved back. Most important, was the riding posture, was told to consciously ride with a straighter back, which helped me dropped my shoulder n was able to bend more at the elbow, reducing the weight on the bars too!

When speaking about saddle setback, I do not recall James ever speaking about balancing leg muscle enlistment, meaning that when the saddle is further back you use more hamstring engagement to pedal compare to the saddle being more forward and then using more quad engagement - my approach at least is to set saddle setback so as to a reasonably balanced quad and hamstring engagement while pedaling. If the saddle is very far back then a rider would be very powerful on the flats but struggle on the climbs as the gradient tilts the bike making it difficult to control the pedal at the bottom of the stroke. I would find it interesting to see a video where James perhaps addresses this consideration to show that it is not only about balancing torso weight, which can obviously also be achieved thru a higher front end.