Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott said:My dear wife loves her new Specialized women's Allez Vita. She's not a
speedy cyclist, but enjoys the responsiveness of the bike in comparison
to the clunky cruisers that she had been riding. But she misses the
comfort of the flat bars and easier-to-reach shifting she had before.
She has tiny hands and is just a tiny woman and even with a
properly-sized frame and short-reach stem, the brakes and shifting are a
bit too far away for comfort.
I'd like to set her up with flat bars, short-reach brakes and thumb (or
other no-reach) shifters.
This is not a problem. If she is happy with really straight bars, then
get normal mountain-bike bars (you may need a new stem, both for reach
differences and diameter). My wife preferred cruiser-style bars, but that
is her choice.
Obviously mountain-bike rapidfire shifters/brakes are the way to go. Some
brakes (like Deore LX) have adjustable cable-pull. Most mountain levers,
meant for v-brakes, pull too much cable for calipers, making the braking
harder for her. But that can be adjusted if you get the right levers.
Front shifting will be a problem. Shimano has different cable-pull per
shift for road vs mountain. Go figure. There is a mountain-style front
derailleur that has a large enough arc for road cranks. An alternative,
which she might also appreciate, is to get mountain-style cranks (much
lower gears) and then the mountain shifter and derailleur will work fine.
--
David L. Johnson
__o | Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
_`\(,_ | death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?
(_)/ (_) | Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. -- J.
R. R. Tolkien
