TheSubaruGuru wrote:I agree with Turbogrover. I use a 100mm/+30deg Redshift stem on TheWave drop bar to alleviate both neck AND hand issues quite successfully. Glad I figured that out before taking the radical flat bar path. If your issue is simply neck numbness just try the stem first. The 10mm rotating compliance might help by taming shocks too!
I second TheSubaruGuru's and Turbogrover's comments. However, here's a decade or so of lessons learned that may help you and others. I would add that there are a few more bike fit issues that should precede a bike purchase in trying to solve hand and neck pain. However, as with everything, opinions vary on the guiding principles, like the whole KOPS (Knee Over Pedal Spindle) issue, which is both still in use for road bike set ups and obviously not in use on recumbents, TT bikes and many MTB set ups with slack seat tube angles. My knees like Greg Lemond's higher than traditional saddle position. Torso to femur to tibia to foot length ratios and weight distributions vary, but you need to keep your center of gravity close to where the bike designer had it or you will compromise handling.
I'm with Volsung, "flat bars make my hands go numb," unless I use them with Ergon bar ends and mainly ride with my hands in a road bar hood position. You have far fewer hand positions that are ergonomically worse. Here's why:
1. Let your arms hang loose standing. Now bend them at your elbows, and your hands are basically in a riding the hoods position. That is the least stressed position.
2. Now twist them to flatbar grip and many people can feel additional tightness in the forearms. There are multiple fit issues to address. Between 2 sizes of the same frame, changing stem length and/or drop bar rise/reach (
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a20025529/how-to-buy-road-bike-drop-bars/ ) can create the same saddle-hood horizontal distance, but the larger frame will give you a higher stack, and stem and bar rise can significantly change how bent over you are and the weight distribution between hands and sit bones.
Drop bar comfort changes drastically with bar model, width and top angle and hood position. When you bend your elbows, are your hands narrower, as wide or wider than your hoods? Matching width is generally the least stressful, most upright/most elbow bent option for a given set up. Narrower bars are more aero, but if you have wide shoulders, a 44 or 46 cm wide bar may relieve shoulder stress, which will affect neck and hands. Most flared gravel bars are narrower at the hoods than the drops. Non-flared bars may get you wider hood spacing, but too wide will increase stress. Get in a push up position and lift your head up. Now move each hand an inch or 2 wider and feel the additional shoulder strain as you lift your head up. As you move your hands either in or out from a straight ahead position in an arc, forward reach is reduced, so both too wide and too narrow bars will stretch you out more.
4. How big are your hands, how heavy are you, how flexible are you and how well conditioned is your core? No need to answer, but fatter, stiffer, tighter will make things worse. Core conditioning, stretching and weight loss if needed will help. Think about the neck angle if you are loose and bending from the hip with a flat back vs curving your spine down to reach the bars. Sit up on a chair, get shoulders to "soldier" posture. Now bend at hip forward to a cycling position. Repeat by hunching your shoulders forward first and curling your spine--feel the neck stress?
Part of hand pain comes down to PSI in both tires and bars. The heavier you are and the more weight you load on your hands vs core, the bigger the "P." To get closer to the same "per sq. inch" as a 140lb rider, increase the square inches by double wrapping bars where you grip the most if you have large hands. I've tried Lizard Skins thick tape and some others, but have found that a tighter than normal double wrap with
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/bike-accessories/bike-handlebar-grips-tape/bike-handlebar-tape/bontrager-gel-cork-handlebar-tape-set/p/23110/ from hoods through top grip area is best, and gotten compliments from far faster riders on how it feels. Base wrap really tightly from the hoods to the narrowest grip you use, then wrap the whole bar a little tighter than normal with center of the 2nd wrap on the edges of the first wrap to level it out. The tightness keeps it from getting squishy or coming loose and the extra width and padding makes for a wider/softer contact patch. Bars with ovalized or wide flat tops so your hand contact patch is wider may help. I also find rotating the bars and sliding the hoods to form a near straight line angling up slightly so that my hands are not pressured into sliding forward to the hood ends relieves some strain. Finding the bar shape, reach, and width that fits best is a challenge at the moment, but I can tell you that my old, discontinued Trek ovalized short reach drop bar I moved to my gravel bike and the similar shape carbon bar I replaced it with on my road bike are MUCH more comfortable for me than the stock bars on mid-range gravel bikes. Carbon bars will transmit less of what comes through than aluminum, but add that breakage risk if improperly installed or crashed. Carbon bars on my MTB really helped.
Larger, lower pressure tires will absorb more vibrations. Tons of info in tire forum. A bike with an air shock or stem shock will weigh more and absorb more, so maybe this
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/05/geoff-kabush-previews-new-fox-32-ax-gravel-suspension-fork/ , the Lauf grit fork or a bike like the Diverge, Topstone Lefty or Checkpoint with some type of a head shock would be a better option.
Before going the surgeon route, get checked out by a good chiropractor. My guy is a Palmer grad
https://www.palmer.edu/alumni/find-a-chiropractor/ and many of my bike pain issues had nothing to do with my bike but a lot to do with work ergonomics, getting out of shape by too many long days in the office, and a foot injury throwing off my spine alignment, poor sleeping position etc causing neck tightness that became most painful on the bike. Orthotics in my walking shoes and several alignment sessions straightened out my back, which in turn reduced neck pain.
Hope that helps some of you out there.
