"Buzzing" hands after long ride (75mi+)

[corksil]

Does anyone else feel their hands buzzing or vibrating after getting off the bike after a long ride? I did about 50 miles of brisk-pace-curvy-road riding today and when I pulled into a store for a soda, my hands felt like they were buzzing.

Am I holding on too tight or is this normal?

(I was riding without gloves. Bare handed. Plz don't attack me.)

[Alex]

Gloves will help. Also - you may have been simply holding the grips tighter than necessary. The hand controls require very little force, and the bike generally behaves better the more gently and smoothly the rider applies the appropriate control inputs.

/moved to riding skills

[rasta]

That's totally normal. On longer rides, I can't hardly feel my hands after a while. So I changed my grips to these, and it helped a little bit. Not much though. Then I heard that weighted bar grips would help reduce vibrations a little more, so I installed these bar ends.

I just put 'em on yesterday, so I haven't had much of a chance to ride an extended distance with them yet.

[Bob2010]

Very strange sensation indeed. I get the same feeling after using the weed whacker I also wear gloves using both !

[choneofakind]

You're gripping the bars too right and/or putting too much weight on your hands.

Numb body parts is not normal. It's an indicator that you're doing something wrong.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by Alex

Gloves will help. Also - you may have been simply holding the grips tighter than necessary. The hand controls require very little force, and the bike generally behaves better the more gently and smoothly the rider applies the appropriate control inputs.

/moved to riding skills

Agree with all of these suggestions. One other thing is that what you do with your lower body will really help your ability to relax your grip on the bars. Gripping the tank with your knees and getting your body stable will make it much easier to keep the weight off your hands and prevent you from holding on too tight.

[tfkrocks]

Loosen your grip and keep your weight off your hands. Your hands and arms should always feel nice and loose. Gloves will also help a lot with vibrations.

[Joshorilla]

Get a scottoiler cramp buster, just rest your right hand on your throttle instead of gripping it, helps with circulation.

[rasta]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

You're gripping the bars too right and/or putting too much weight on your hands.

Numb body parts is not normal. It's an indicator that you're doing something wrong.

Wait, for reals?

I barely hover my hand around the throttle and over time it gets numb.....?

[NevadaWolf]

I found on my riding while I was keeping my fingers loose around the grip, my palm was being driven into the grip by the weight coming down from my arms. Seeing a dummies diagram of hand nerves, I realized by weighing down on the base of my hand I was pinching the nerves going from my wrist into the hand.

What I found works for me along with using my legs to support my torso is to slightly rotate my hand out so the meaty part above the wrist and below the pinky is the part pushing into the grip. Still get slightly numb hands but the shooting pain and sever numbness I was getting before has been eliminated.

[Roca]

I have a little bit of carpal tunel, so after about 10 miles my hands go numb. They kind of feel swollen. I am going to try some different postures.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by rasta

Wait, for reals?

I barely hover my hand around the throttle and over time it gets numb.....?

For reals.

Teri nailed it with the explanation because she had the same issue a while back.




Like I said before, too tight and/or too much weight on your hands. Numb body parts are not normal in any wheel'd vehicle I've been on/in lately, aside from the lawnmower which requires I push it AND squeeze it to keep it from shutting off.

[csmith12]

Even though I don't get buzzy hands on the bike, I do get it when using the chain saw or weed whacker (push and squeeze). I even get buzzy feet (push on the foot throttle) when riding my lawn tractor for long periods of time. Chone is on to something there. Comparing the two (bike vs lawn equipment) shown me that the equipment can very much lend itself to this feeling.

But, Teri did some homework already, maybe you can leverage her experience to help you.

Read down farther into the thread for some "outside the box" thinking and good luck.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

I found on my riding while I was keeping my fingers loose around the grip, my palm was being driven into the grip by the weight coming down from my arms. Seeing a dummies diagram of hand nerves, I realized by weighing down on the base of my hand I was pinching the nerves going from my wrist into the hand.

What I found works for me along with using my legs to support my torso is to slightly rotate my hand out so the meaty part above the wrist and below the pinky is the part pushing into the grip. Still get slightly numb hands but the shooting pain and sever numbness I was getting before has been eliminated.

Excellent explanation! People often think they are riding relaxed but they are still gripping hard or as you said pressing into the base of your hand hard. Sometimes your hands are relaxed and your shoulders and neck are tense and that can contribute to pain and numbness as well.

When I did level 3 of the California Superbike School as a student in 2003 we really worked on using my legs to grip the tank and get the weight off my arms and sort out my body position. I told Keith my legs were tired and he said, "tired legs are fine, it's tired arms we don't want "