Numb Hands

[phoenixone]

50 years old with a 1998 750 and when I ride for about 30 minutes I have trouble with my hands and fingures wanting to go numb. Any suggestions out there? Thanks.

[whitecl0ver]

Check on Gel palm gloves or Gel Grips...

[VifferJim]

Shift your weight off your hands (to your abs and legs) and loosen the 'grip of death' on your handlebars. You may also want to look at gloves that have more padding and fit a litttle bit more loosely.

[tdrcomm]

Shift your weight off your hands (to your abs and legs) and loosen the 'grip of death' on your handlebars. You may also want to look at gloves that have more padding and fit a litttle bit more loosely.

+1000

[phoenixone]

Great ideas that i will give a try. Love riding and since I am only about an hour away from the dragon I want to get this taken care of before I try and slay it. Thanks again.

[The CyberPoet]

NOTE: STANDARD REPOST:

What no one else has mentioned and goes a long way towards comfort is adjusting the position of the levers to your riding position. Having the levers even a degree or two off ideal means that you need to put the rest of yourself into an unnatural position to manipulate them correctly.

Do This:
place the bike on the centerstand.
Sit on the seat as upright as you can.
Place your arms out, hands straight to the arms, palms flat down.
Now lower your arms to put your hands on the bars, retaining this straight-wrist, flat-hand posture. If you fingers don't engage the levers at the same instant the palms engage the bars, the levers are off for you -- you need to move them so there is a straight line from your shoulder to your fingertips.
On the 98+ (and probably the pre-98's), the levers can only be rotated a small amount by loosening the bolt to the lever mount and rotating it. Use this as much as possible.
If the previous step doesn't give you adequate rotation, find the two plastic covers at the risers where the bar tubes mount, pop off the covers (fingernail) and loosen (but don't remove) the two bolts. Now rotate the entire bar (again, there is a small range of motion for the bar -- possibly 5 degrees total -- before hitting the screws).
between the two above steps you should be able to align the levers to any reasonable human's arms -- odds are if you can't meet the need with the rotations available from these two, you're inseam is too short to work on this bike anyway.

Note that any time you change the bar-to-seat configuration (changing seats/saddles, adding risers, etc.), you need to change that alignment again.

also see:

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=83055

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=73962

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=61328

etc.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[sassyduck]

Thanks for asking that question, and thanks for all the answers.

[Cadmaster]

Man I need to adjust my lever's. I will have to do it before my long 4th of July ride.

[Zepp]

Shift your weight off your hands (to your abs and legs) and loosen the 'grip of death' on your handlebars. You may also want to look at gloves that have more padding and fit a litttle bit more loosely.

I concur

[DreKat]

Check on Gel palm gloves or Gel Grips...

or both

[Slofuze]

NOTE: STANDARD REPOST:



also see:

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=83055

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=73962

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=61328

etc.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

Wow......doing it tomorrow as my fingers get numb after an hour.

[JasonChen]

NOTE: STANDARD REPOST:



also see:

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=83055

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=73962

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=61328

etc.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

great info. I'll look into it tomorrow. (though I'm completely comfortable with my bike as-is)

[Lxpony]

make sure your arms are bent slightly and like already said, hold your body up with your lower back and abs, and hold onto the tank with your legs. 95% of your weight should have off your wrists. Your right hand should be loose and relaxed. If you want to fully extend and lock your arms straight, the bike isnt for you.

[Macka]

I get numbness in the throttle hand and I firmly beleive it's because the gloves are very snug. I would like to move to looser fitting ones at some point, but leather just lasts so long...