Vibrations/numb hands - best options?

What is the best option to alleviate road vibrations and numb hands.  This happens on both gravel and road conditions. Though I do notice my hands are happier on my 650b setup and lower tire pressure.  My 700x38 setup I run 30-40psi depending on conditions, but still get some buzz and numb hands...probably less so at 30psi.  Frame is alloy and fork is carbon - no I'm not buying a new frame or fork.

Options I'm looking at:
- Carbon handlebars (which one?)
- Spank Vibrocore (foam damped alloy bar)
- Redshift stem
- Thicker bar tape

Recommendations/suggestions?

Is the numbness due to the vibration? Or is it due to needing a adjustment in positioning? I.e. too much pressure on your hands or the angle your wrist is in.. in what hand positions do you notice numbness? I’m guessing they are independent of each other, but wanted to ask first. 

(With the assumption your fit and positioning is okay)

When you keep mentioning lower tire pressure helping, it makes me think a Shockstop stem will make you a smoothermoose. Thicker tape and carbon fiber bars didn't seem to do anything noticeable for me. A Shockstop basically eliminated wrist and upper body woes for me after trying those first two. Some tapes were better than others, but they were tiny differences compared to the SS stem. 

Thanks guys.  I am tweaking my fit a bit since switching to massive flat pedals.  I probably need to drop my headset stack a bit more.  That said, I did get some numbness previously as well.  I'll probably give the Redshift stem a try.  Still cheaper than carbon bars.

I highly recommend the Redshift stem and double wrapping the bars behind the hoods.  Experiment with different elastomers in the stem to dial the "flex" to your liking.  Also, you may try rotating the handlebars up or down to change how your hands fit on the hoods or in the drops.  

EBG18T wrote:Is the numbness due to the vibration? Or is it due to needing a adjustment in positioning? I.e. too much pressure on your hands or the angle your wrist is in.. in what hand positions do you notice numbness? I’m guessing they are independent of each other, but wanted to ask first. 

what he said^^^

from what I’ve gleaned from countless fitter blogs and vids, hand issues are almost always a fit issue, first and foremost. If running cush tires helps, that’s fine, but it’s only masking the real issue. 

Compunding things, fit issues, such as saddle height and setback, are impacted greatly by cleat position. Until the cleat is in the right place, it’s almost impossible to maximize saddle height/setback. 

One interesting tidbit I’ve seen a number of highly regarded fitters discuss, there are numerous issues that arise from a cleat too far forward, yet none that arise from too far back, up to the point you reach mid foot. The advice each fitter gave: err on the side of caution and run your cleats as far back as possible, up to the point that toe overlap becomes a serious issue.  Given the nature of gravel riding and the lack of really tight turns at speed, that should mean just slam your cleats back as far as they’ll go and adjust saddle height/setback accordingly. 

Much like the old saying, when your feet are cold, put on a hat, when your hands hurt, look to your feet for solutions 

I agree with the others here who suggested focusing on your bike fit first, particularly since you indicated that this has been somewhat of an ongoing issue.

Most carbon bars won't gain you anything and may actually make the problem worse. They're typically stiffer than aluminum bars and their often-touted "vibration damping" is basically a myth. At the vibration frequencies caused by rough roads, what you need is compliance and carbon bars don't typically provide that, though there are now a handful that are designed to provide a useful degree of flex.

Obviously, no handlebar will provide kind of shock absorption that something like the Redshift stem will.

FWIW, I ride aluminum bars that do provide a bit of flex, double-wrapped with Cannondale Synapse bar tape over generic cork tape. Combined with 40mm tires and low pressures, it takes the sting out of a stiff frameset pretty well.

Mudge wrote:The advice each fitter gave: err on the side of caution and run your cleats as far back as possible, up to the point that toe overlap becomes a serious issue.

As I mentioned above - switched to massive flat pedals recently.  So cleat position is no longer in play.

BUT yes, I am still tweaking my fit after the flat pedal switch.  Saddle height went down and position went forward.  I dropped my stack height by 1 spacer, but probably need to do more as the saddle height went down by probably 15mm.  Hopefully I don't need to change my stem, because I'm already on 90mm...and it seems that's Redshift shortest.