Anybody else's hands fall asleep while riding their bikes? My right hand especially at the thumb goes dead numb after a relatively short while (30 minutes or so). Kinda scary for making right turns (turn signals are tough to do when you can't find them).

I've got gel half-finger gloves and the H/D "elipse" grips - which are pretty cushy - but won't win any awards for comfort - still better than stock...

Anybody else's hands fall asleep while riding their bikes? My right hand especially at the thumb goes dead numb after a relatively short while (30 minutes or so). Kinda scary for making right turns (turn signals are tough to do when you can't find them).

I've got gel half-finger gloves and the H/D "elipse" grips - which are pretty cushy - but won't win any awards for comfort - still better than stock...

I've owned 3 different brands of bikes, and my right hand goes to sleep on all of them. The only thing that gets me through long rides is a throttle lock. I hate using it, so I engage, drop my right hand to my side just long enough for it to wake up, then disengage it.

I was OK on my Sportster - nothing falling asleep. Wasn't sure if I'm putting too much weight on the bars or if it's a short-bar thing...

Oh well - she's still the most fun I can have with my clothes on!

..the various throttle bosses work great as well to allow you to release your grip and flex your fingers and hand to get some blood moving..Most importantly DON'T Grip the throttle so tight, also I have found that tight/snug gloves make the problem worse, for all that the gel padded gloves dampen vibration they also make the gloves tighter, buy a size larger that is not squeezing your hand..

I agree ... don't grip. For me, there is something about the vibration. about 55+ the bike seems to hit a harmonic that just makes my fingers go to sleep. I can even rest them over the brake, not gripping anything whatsoever, and they'll go to sleep.

Anyone use a throttle rocker? I just got one yesterday 100miles into a ride I couldn't stand it anymore. Nice device for highway cruising.......

Another thing to try might be lower bars, if your current handlebars put your hands up above your elbows very far. Easier on your circulation if your forearms are closer to being parallel to the ground.

I use an $8 clip-on throttle control that has a plastic tab that sticks out under the palm of the righth hand, and makes it easier to ride with the throttle on without having to fully graps the handlebar.

Anybody else's hands fall asleep while riding their bikes? My right hand especially at the thumb goes dead numb after a relatively short while (30 minutes or so). Kinda scary for making right turns (turn signals are tough to do when you can't find them).

I've got gel half-finger gloves and the H/D "elipse" grips - which are pretty cushy - but won't win any awards for comfort - still better than stock...


I have the same problem. It only happens to my right hand. My whole hand falls asleep. I can usually get it back by removing my fingers from the throttle (I leave the bottom of my palm on the throttle to keep the bike moving) and rolling them in and out of my palm. That usually works until I hit a traffic light or something else that I need to stop for.

not bad on the back roads where i can move around but on the highway it gets alittle rough on the hands and wrist.

I have carpel tunnel and my hands go to sleep on the bike all the time(and at home, when I am sleeping, ect...)

For some strange reason, the left grib bothers me, it seem a half inch too short for my hand width, the right is OK. :jeannie:

When I was new to riding my hands would fall asleep. I was also white knuckled the whole time I was riding.

I have carpel tunnel and my hands go to sleep on the bike all the time(and at home, when I am sleeping, ect...)

Speedy, one certainly shouldn't attempt 'remote diagnosis' but if this is consistently happening when you grip things, then you may need to see your doctor and have him/her check out your wrists for a 'carpal tunnel' problem (= median nerve neuropathy due to compression of the nerve inside the rigid tunnel formed by the radiocarpal, intercarpal and transverse carpal ligaments which also contains all the flexor tendons of the wrist and fingers - basically poor engineering design :hmm: ) . )

There is a good fix for this problem and if this is the problem and it gets fixed your riding pleasure will rapidly return. :ride:

Good luck

Nope, doesn't happen to me...but I have to say something about the bride picture. RDJ, can you at least get her on the bike for the next picture? And maybe in a Skull T-shirt? ;-)

I had that problem with the stock grips, right hand would start to go numb after about 1 hr of riding.
I changed to the Kuryaken ISO grips with throttle boss & haven't had the problem any more! ;)

Nope, doesn't happen to me...but I have to say something about the bride picture. RDJ, can you at least get her on the bike for the next picture? And maybe in a Skull T-shirt? ;-)

I'll ask her nicely :sinister:

I have found a more comfortable grip is posible when I cut off the stock rubber handgrips and install Harley's "Nostalgic" grips, which are raised in the middle. I feel that fatter grips are more comfortable than the stock H-D grips.

I get that all the time. It drives me nuts! A friend told me she thought it was because my hands were up higher than my heart. I have no idea if that's right (anybody got ape hangers?), but plan on switching out the stock grips soon, so I'll let you know if that helps.

I can tell you that it's not that my hands are higher than my heart - it's a Street Rod - I thought that it might be that I was resting too much body weight on the bars.

Thought maybe a larger-diameter grip would do the job... Or maybe I should fill the bars with lead shot to try and deaden the vibration...

Agreed, too tight grip, tight gloves, leaning forward onto the grips, all can cause numbness. Haven't had a problem on the VROD but only done around town rides, 1 hour at most, about 300 miltes total so far. Get to take my hands off grips at lights. Without throttlelock of course we can't do that on highway rides. I do however get the mumbness in both hands on my mountain bike after about 20 minutes and it seems to be because I lean forward onto the grips. The wrist braces for carpal tunnel tend to keep your forearm and hand alignment straighter because cocking the hand up tends to add presure to the nerve. If you're leaning forward onto the grips to reach them, that could be causing the numbness to occur sooner. HD has extension bars that place the hand grips closer to you. If you get them, be aware they are designed to have cables ran inside the bars and the labor cost for that at the dealer is a bit pricy. Also you have to get the stainless braided longer cables. My dealer didn't quote the time to run the wires in the bars then charged me for it. Or should I say, tried to charge me. I told them I wantd the bars for comfort and control, didn't care about the wired, to go ahead and move the wires outside the bar because I was not paying for that labor. Fortunately for me, they thought that was sacriligious and left them in, didn't charge me. I does look neater like this.

..the various throttle bosses work great as well to allow you to release your grip and flex your fingers and hand to get some blood moving..Most importantly DON'T Grip the throttle so tight, also I have found that tight/snug gloves make the problem worse, for all that the gel padded gloves dampen vibration they also make the gloves tighter, buy a size larger that is not squeezing your hand..

It is a circulation problem and a pressure problem too. How many riders with numbness are also smokers ??? We did an informal survey w/ old riding buddies out east and those with the worst hand problems were all smokers ????
If you are leaning heavy on them ( bars and grips ) it is a pressure related issue.
Ergonomics dictate that hands should be just slightly above elbows to avoid or minimize carpal tunnel. Hope this helps....I am soon to be 51 and have ridden all my life and no numbness in hands....numb head for sure though.

Gloves not too tight - rather loose AAMOF.

Non-smoker.

I think it's a combination of gripping too tight, too much weight on the bars, and the short bars vibrating too much. I need to find the perfect position for the thumb friction screw so I don't have to keep so much pressure on there. These bikes engine brake REALLY fast on the highway if you don't ease off the throttle - keeps me on edge.