A men's 105 road bike with the shorter reach fo the brake levers



I have discovered today while doing some off roading on Allez Sport
that I really dislike the long reach for brake levers (despite having
large palms).
The hands tire quickly working the brakes.
If I go for full 105 group bike what are my options for the men's bike
with a 54 cm frame and short reach for the brake levers? Preferably
with non carbon
fiber seatpost. That thing makes me nervous of what would happen if it
fails.

On the related note: how should I use the brakes when descending
downhill offroad?
Front brake only or I could use both as I'm used to?
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have discovered today while doing some off roading on Allez Sport
> that I really dislike the long reach for brake levers (despite having
> large palms).
> The hands tire quickly working the brakes.


IIRC you can get a spacer to fit in the top of the STI lever for 105. It's
possible that the levers you have are too far up the bar at the moment
leading to the 'long reach'.

> If I go for full 105 group bike what are my options for the men's bike
> with a 54 cm frame and short reach for the brake levers? Preferably
> with non carbon
> fiber seatpost. That thing makes me nervous of what would happen if it
> fails.


The saddle falls off! I've seen some nasty spikey bits of Al alloy before
now.

>
> On the related note: how should I use the brakes when descending
> downhill offroad?
> Front brake only or I could use both as I'm used to?
>


Brake so that the wheels don't lock up. Dab the brakes when possible. Off
road on an Allez for me would be far too, err, 'exciting' for me, even with
28mm tyres. Obviously your idea of off-road may differ from mine.

Skippy
E&OE
 
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In article <[email protected]>,
Skippy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I have discovered today while doing some off roading on Allez Sport
>> that I really dislike the long reach for brake levers (despite having
>> large palms).
>> The hands tire quickly working the brakes.

>
>IIRC you can get a spacer to fit in the top of the STI lever for 105. It's
>possible that the levers you have are too far up the bar at the moment
>leading to the 'long reach'.
>
>> If I go for full 105 group bike what are my options for the men's bike
>> with a 54 cm frame and short reach for the brake levers? Preferably
>> with non carbon
>> fiber seatpost. That thing makes me nervous of what would happen if it
>> fails.


_ The Sequoia might be a better choice for you. It has inline
brake levers and clearance for larger tires. It's a great road
bike and with fatter tires does reasonably well on packed dirt.
The Trek Pilot is also a bike that you might like. If you go to
a full on cyclocross bike there are a lot of choices. Regardless
if you plan to frequently descend dirt roads/trails with a drop
bar bike I highly recommend inline brake levers.

>
>>
>> On the related note: how should I use the brakes when descending
>> downhill offroad?
>> Front brake only or I could use both as I'm used to?
>>

>
>Brake so that the wheels don't lock up. Dab the brakes when possible. Off
>road on an Allez for me would be far too, err, 'exciting' for me, even with
>28mm tyres. Obviously your idea of off-road may differ from mine.
>


You can use both brakes, but just like on the road, the front
brake will be the most effective. The thing to be aware of is
that the surface is much more variable off road and you need to
be much more aware of how the brakes are responding. MTB'ers
call this modulation and to them the ablity to finely control the
braking force is much more important than the absolute braking
power.

_ Booker C. Bense


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