After riding my bike for about a half hour my thumb, index finger and middle finger on my throttle hand start going numb or to sleep. Does anyone else experience this and any help to stop this from happening?? I have to pull over, put the bike in neutral, allow my arm to dangle to my side while wiggling my fingers to get feeling back again... a real pain.

Thanks,
Chris

Get a throttle lock. I use a vista-cruise that is modified and kinda cleverly installed. Other than that try not gripping so hard but that never worked for me either.

FishFryer is right, you are grabbing the bars too tight and if its not that its probably that you are leaning way to hard on the front.
Its hard to resist but eventually you will find a position that is comfortable for you. Yes, everyone goes through this process.
If you have money, invest into thick leather gloves they absorb the trauma.

also make sure your gloves or jacket sleeve isn't too tight and blocking some blood pressure

Every 2004 and later F4i that I have ridden exhibts some serious vibration at the handlebars. This causes numbness, and the "pinprick" or "buzz" type feeling. For my bike, I went with the HVMP weighted bar ends, and that has greatly reduced the problem.

The RR models that I've ridden don't seem to have this problem.

I have A 06 F4I I Changed my grips to The Gel type ( Progrip #719 ) , And gloves try others they make gel palms for them too.

Not really for me but the main problem I have is my feet fall asleep especially on longer rides from the peg vibration.

Mike

I got the same numbness you're describing when I first started riding for a prolonged time. Now that I have 1700mi under my belt, I may have relaxed on the bike, loosened up my hands and I don't get it anymore. So no need for the gel grips and other accessories, IMO, just ride ride ride and you'll eventually loosen up and get used to it.

id say its 80% your gloves, 10% bike, 10% body.
used to happen to me, switched gloves and havent noticed since!

yea so im a new rider only about 1000 miles or so and my fingers go numb also the dr. told me i probably have carpel tunnel sooo im glad to know its not only me. Ill try letting up on the grips.
Stephen

Periodically when you are riding make sure you can shake your elbows and wiggle your fingers.

Other than that, seat time will cure it. As I said in another thread. Do some back extensions and crunches in your physical fitness routine. When you accelerate or brake, you should be able to steady your body with your legs and core, NOT your arms.

If you are riding with locked elbows then you are almost certainly riding with too much weight on your hands.

If you find you are having hand pain then either sit up straight (slower speeds) and relax your arms, or at higher speeds bend down more and bend your elbows alot.

I've put some long days on these bikes... the trick has always been - move about, don't grip tightly and take the weight off of your arms.

That being said - good grips and gloves will help you further... I'm running stock grips with no problems... ymv.

loosen off the wrist straps on your gloves, jacket and watchstrap. Yaya I know, but when I sold my 6 and went 954 I had thumblock like crazy and that helped . Plus when your riding try to keep forearm and knuckles level , rather than taking it all in the wrists...good move for long downhills wih passenger too. G out.

Lastly. Adjust your levers. There is a reason they can be rotated on the clipons. You can loosen the mounts and rotate them so your wrists are in a more relaxed position. I actually have mine turned as far forward as possible and not have the master cylinder hit the screen.

It makes a huge difference in comfort and control.

My right hand gets numb as well, but my left never has any problem. I've tried taking weight off my right hand by transferring more load to the left to no avail. How could gel gloves help when it's pretty obvious to me that having to hold open the throttle is 100% the problem? Is it possible that the throttle side is getting more vibration because of the plastic sleeve under the grip vs just having the grip over the clipon on the left side?

How slick are your grips? My old stockers were like ice compared the the progrips I have. Sticky grips mean VERY little pressure to maintain throttle. Also they are a softer gel than the stockers.

Your right will still probably cramp up before your left. That is why they make cruise controls. When you are burning the twisties it isn't an issue because both hands are opening/closing and doing other stuff.

first off, i have/had this problem as well, i just keep it a constant reminder when i go on long trips to wiggle my fingers for a min or 2 every so often also

blackdog, can you please elaborate on how clipons work i guess. I have a problem where my master cylynder hits my screen, well not even my screen but the screw that goest through the screen and the front cowl is scraping the top of my master cylynder its to the point where im ordering a new top soon. i thought it was because i recently replaced all the hexiscrews with a kit i purchased, but there not abnormally long or anything so how can i fix this? can i move the resovior like down or somthing

There are two bolts clamping the brake master cylinder to the clipon. You should be able to loosen these bolts then rotate the master cylinder on the bar. Get the lever to where you can rest your fingers on it without your wrist being all cramped up. Make sure you check it at full steering lock. You don't want the lever or the resivoir to hit bodywork.

sorry for the confusion im in iraq so bare with me im trying to picture ****. I know the 2 bolts your talking about but i thougght this would just rotate the resevoir, thus making it unlevel? and then wouldnt it leak?

so does anyone have a link for these aftermarket gel grips? i dont care what anybody says ebay is not user friendly and i can never find what i am looking for by using the search option. any kind of link to aftermarket grips would be appreciated, also are they hard to install?

never mind that, there is another topic about grips already.

The Resivoir is sealed. The two bolts allow everything to pivot on the bar's axis. It dosent matter if it's perfectly level. You wouldn't want it upside down since it feeds from the bottom, but a little tilt is OK.

ok i didnt know how good those 2 bolts where at keeping it sealed. So you think i should just rotate it and it wont hit that screw anymore? really its like a clearence issue and i need to lower it somehow

Thanks all for the great input. I have ordered progrip gel grips which I should have installed mid next week which should help. I have also altered my posture, based on your advice, and now "snuggle" the tank more to elleviate some weight from my wrists. I went for about a 4 hour tour yesterday and only had very minor numbness just by correcting my posture alone. I think the gel grips will also help further and I guess the last improvement would be a good set of gloves. I will search the forum for what to get.

Thanks again.
Cheers,
Chris

ORIGINAL: SkinnyJ

ok i didnt know how good those 2 bolts where at keeping it sealed.

Just to clarify, I am NOT talking about the phillips head screws ON the resivoir lid. Those ARE keeping the resivoir sealed. I am talking about the two small bolts facing you as you are sitting on the bike. They are actually clamping the assembly on the bar and have "UP" printed on the cap between them.

ya i knew thats what you were refering to i think i just worded it wrong. thanks though cant really do **** right now anyways so ill wait till i get home and update