Road levers and small hands

[Jacques Moser]

I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny ones.
On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties grabbing the
Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On my commuter
bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, I chose Sora
levers partly because they are fitted with an adjustment
screw that allows you to bring the levers closer to the bar
(this also reduces available cable travel !). Only this way
can I make it comfortable to grab the levers from the drops.
Am I the only one to experience this problem ? How do others
adress it ?

Jacques

 

[Paul]

My Bianchi came with ITM bars which have an anatomic bend. I
could not reach the brake levers from the drops. I changed
my bars to Nitto bars, which are round bend, and I find it
much easier to reach the brakes from the drops.

Paul

"Jacques Moser" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
> ones. On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties
> grabbing the Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On
> my commuter bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, I
> chose Sora levers partly because they are fitted with an
> adjustment screw that allows you to bring the levers
> closer to the bar (this also reduces available cable
> travel !). Only this way can I make it comfortable to grab
> the levers from the drops. Am I the only one to experience
> this problem ? How do others adress it ?
>
> Jacques

 

[Alan Hoyle]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 19:22:06 +0100, Jacques Moser wrote:

> Am I the only one to experience this problem ? How do
> others adress it ?

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers.html#brifters

Scroll down and look for the "Shimano ST-R600"

I found this link on:

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t30481.html

--
Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[Antti Salonen]

Jacques Moser <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
> ones. On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties
> grabbing the Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On
> my commuter bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, I
> chose Sora levers partly because they are fitted with an
> adjustment screw that allows you to bring the levers
> closer to the bar (this also reduces available cable
> travel !). Only this way can I make it comfortable to grab
> the levers from the drops. Am I the only one to experience
> this problem ? How do others adress it ?

I also have very small hands for a male. On my road bike I
have used 3T drop bars with the "anatomical" bend, the exact
models being Prima 220 and Morphe. The levers are modern
Campagnolo Ergopower levers.

I also initially had serious trouble reaching the brake
levers from the drops, but I've been able to fix the problem
pretty well. To my experience, both the angle at which the
bar is positioned and the angle of the levers make a
difference. I have rotated my bars higher than usual, so
that the flat section of the drops is higher and the ends of
the bars point quite low. The levers are positioned so that
the top of the hood is almost exactly horizontal. Many
people have their Campagnolo levers mounted higher than
this, which tends to make it more difficult to reach the
brake levers from the drops.

With this setup, I was able to bring the levers much closer
to the flat section of the drops and easy to grab. In
general, I suggest that you unwrap the bar tape and start
playing with both the angle of the bar and the position of
the levers.

When I get home tomorrow, I can put some photographs of my
setup on the web, if you think it could help.

-as

 

[Kent Dorfman]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0021_01C40851.6DD252D0 Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-15" Content-Transfer-Encoding:
quoted-printable

What does that say about the rest of you? "Jacques Moser"
<[email protected]> wrote in =
message news[email protected]... I
have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny ones.
On my = Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties grabbing the
Campagnolo levers when I = am on the drops. On my commuter
bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, = I chose Sora
levers partly because they are fitted with an adjustment =
screw that allows you to bring the levers closer to the bar
(this also = reduces available cable travel !). Only this
way can I make it comfortable to = grab the levers from the
drops. Am I the only one to experience this problem ? How do
others adress it = ?

Jacques ------=_NextPart_000_0021_01C40851.6DD252D0 Content-
Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-15" Content-Transfer-
Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0
Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-
Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-15"> <META
content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>What does that say about
the rest of=20 you?</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-
RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-
LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DV>"Jacques Moser" <<A=20
=
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">m-
oser.removethe= [email protected]</A>>=20 wrote
in message <A=20
=
href=3D"news[email protected]">new-
san.2004.03.=
[email protected]</A>...</DIV>I=20 have
relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
ones. On my=20 Bianchi<BR>road bike, I have
difficulties grabbing the Campagnolo = levers
when=20 I am on<BR>the drops. On my commuter
bike, going from straight bars to = drop=20
bars, I<BR>chose Sora levers partly because they
are fitted with an = adjustment=20 screw<BR>that
allows you to bring the levers closer to the bar
(this = also=20 reduces<BR>available cable
travel !). Only this way can I make it =
comfortable=20 to grab<BR>the levers from the
drops.<BR>Am I the only one to = experience
this=20 problem ? How do others adress it =
?<BR><BR>Jacques</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0021_01C40851.6DD252D0--

 

[Bbense+Rec Bicy]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email protected]>,
Jacques Moser
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
>ones. On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties grabbing
>the Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On my
>commuter bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, I
>chose Sora levers partly because they are fitted with an
>adjustment screw that allows you to bring the levers closer
>to the bar (this also reduces available cable travel !).
>Only this way can I make it comfortable to grab the levers
>from the drops. Am I the only one to experience this
>problem ?

- - No. I think anybody that takes a small in glove size has
this problem.

> How do others address it ?

_ A lot of messing around with brake levers and bar angles
with the tape off. The position I finally ended up with is
sub-optimal for everything but braking from the drops, but
since every ride from my house involves at least a 1K
descent that's where they are.

_ It's easier to get this right with bar with standard round
drops rather than the anatomical ones. Raising the
handlebars a little also helps. Other solutions are special
short reach levers or putting a wedge underneath the brake
mounting clamp.

_ If there are other solutions, I'd sure like to know
about them. I've pondered bending the brake levers, but
I'm too chicken to actually do that. I wouldn't mind too
much if they broke in garage, but I would terrified if
they broke on the road. They would break just when you
needed them the most.

_ Booker C. Bense

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBQFJnVGTWTAjn5N/lAQFRRQP/VaJMNcr4+s9A9Tg8m4U3L+xNbde-
6VJjK C2VCsCjhgJ/6LERuZwJMpOsI8BaC9FA3A8Kj3r6jqlGOSe63dls6/-
QORkBzZCB5J gljc1q1IZwsr9N+qnbhF16DgCMk7YEGmqJgtp/xvE0YCoXr-
5H5wDMxqIH7P7aPwx kipuDOw0qi0=
=9xM9
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

 

[Frank Knox]

"Jacques Moser" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
> ones. On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties
> grabbing the Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On
> my commuter bike, going from straight bars to drop bars, I
> chose Sora levers partly because they are fitted with an
> adjustment screw that allows you to bring the levers
> closer to the bar (this also reduces available cable
> travel !). Only this way can I make it comfortable to grab
> the levers from the drops. Am I the only one to experience
> this problem ? How do others adress it ?
>
> Jacques

Look at the Terry T bar.
http://www.terrybicycles.com/BPA/220.lasso
http://www.terrybicycles.com/

 

[Jacques Moser]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 20:42:02 +0000, Antti Salonen wrote:

> Jacques Moser
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I have relatively small hands, but definitely not tiny
>> ones. On my Bianchi road bike, I have difficulties
>> grabbing the Campagnolo levers when I am on the drops. On
>> my commuter bike, going from straight bars to drop bars,
>> I chose Sora levers partly because they are fitted with
>> an adjustment screw that allows you to bring the levers
>> closer to the bar (this also reduces available cable
>> travel !). Only this way can I make it comfortable to
>> grab the levers from the drops. Am I the only one to
>> experience this problem ? How do others adress it ?
>
> I also have very small hands for a male. On my road bike I
> have used 3T drop bars with the "anatomical" bend, the
> exact models being Prima 220 and Morphe. The levers are
> modern Campagnolo Ergopower levers.
>
> I also initially had serious trouble reaching the brake
> levers from the drops, but I've been able to fix the
> problem pretty well. To my experience, both the angle at
> which the bar is positioned and the angle of the levers
> make a difference. I have rotated my bars higher than
> usual, so that the flat section of the drops is higher and
> the ends of the bars point quite low. The levers are
> positioned so that the top of the hood is almost exactly
> horizontal. Many people have their Campagnolo levers
> mounted higher than this, which tends to make it more
> difficult to reach the brake levers from the drops.
>
> With this setup, I was able to bring the levers much
> closer to the flat section of the drops and easy to grab.
> In general, I suggest that you unwrap the bar tape and
> start playing with both the angle of the bar and the
> position of the levers.
>
> When I get home tomorrow, I can put some photographs of my
> setup on the web, if you think it could help.
>
> -as

Yeah, I've also found out that rotating bars makes a
difference. But if I make them easier for braking on the
drops, then the hoods are too low for comfortable cruising
(too much weight on the hands).