Brakes

My suggestion would be to adjust the position of the brake levers on the bar so that you can easily reach the brakes from your normal riding position. Once you unwrap the bar, you can move the levers up or down on the bar, and using an indoor trainer or riding around a parking lot you can adjust the brake levers to where they need to be. After that, just re-wrap the bar and you are all done (or take the bike to the shop to have this done). Hope this helps.

There are a couple of options here. One is to unwrap the bar tape, losen up the clamps on the brakes, and put shims between the upper parts of the brake bodies and the bars. This will change the angle of the brake levers relative to the bars. Another possibility is to switch to differently shaped bars. A more traditional radiused bar as opposed to the newer style ergonomic bend should decrease the distance from the bar to the brake levers.

wackydeirdre said:

I am a 42 yr old woman taking up cycling as a sport only now but loving it! My problem is I have very short fingers and like to cycle bent full over. This makes it difficult to reach the brakes unless I am prepared to stop in which case I move my wrists around. I obviously can't ride like this all of the time as my wrists, elbows, etc would be out in an awkward position. I have a Giant OCR 3 road bike. Is there an adaptor available for people with short fingers or does the position of the brakes require readjusting?

There are short reach levers too. Most WSD bikes come equipped with them, but it would cost about $300 to replace your current levers - your LSB might be able to demo them for you. I am small with small hands and I can reach my breaks and shift from both the drops and the hoods.

Eden said:

There are short reach levers too. Most WSD bikes come equipped with them, but it would cost about $300 to replace your current levers - your LSB might be able to demo them for you. I am small with small hands and I can reach my breaks and shift from both the drops and the hoods.

You probably don't need new levers. The WSD shimano "short reach" levers are 100% normal stock levers with either a 5 or 10mm "shim" that is glued into place so that the lever is pushed slightly closer to the bar. Any good bike shop should have them on hand, or can order them. A dab of superglue and you are good to go.

Salsa and Terry make handlebars that have proportions for smaller people. The Terry one, in particular, has a "dimple" in it so that when you are in the drops, the bar is slightly crimped in the area your hand would be grabbing the levers. It makes it a little easier.

martin_j001 said:

My suggestion would be to adjust the position of the brake levers on the bar so that you can easily reach the brakes from your normal riding position. Once you unwrap the bar, you can move the levers up or down on the bar, and using an indoor trainer or riding around a parking lot you can adjust the brake levers to where they need to be. After that, just re-wrap the bar and you are all done (or take the bike to the shop to have this done). Hope this helps.

Thanks! I was thinking of taking it to a shop to see what could be done but wanted to ask you guys to see if I could save a couple bucks. I need to re- wrap the bars anyhow. I might be able to do that myself but I want the gears and all tuned up. I'm good at fixing my kids bikes but my road bike is a very different animal. I'm going to have to go the book store and find a road bike maintenance for dummies book or something. I learned how to replace a tire tube and cant believe how simple it is-they charged me$75.00 to replace my daughters last year. I'm very good with hands on type of work and normally can figure things out for myself but don't want to mess with my bike unless I'm sure I know what I'm doing.

txzen said:

You probably don't need new levers. The WSD shimano "short reach" levers are 100% normal stock levers with either a 5 or 10mm "shim" that is glued into place so that the lever is pushed slightly closer to the bar. Any good bike shop should have them on hand, or can order them. A dab of superglue and you are good to go.

Salsa and Terry make handlebars that have proportions for smaller people. The Terry one, in particular, has a "dimple" in it so that when you are in the drops, the bar is slightly crimped in the area your hand would be grabbing the levers. It makes it a little easier.

The thing is, I'm not all around small. I'm 5'8" tall. I have short arms,legs, fingers and toes (which I won't complain about since I already wear a size 10 shoe). I do have a lot of trouble reaching the brakes, really have to reach to change gears down, and have to do a complete body movement to put the bike into a higher gear, I will have to bring the bike to a shop the more I think of it. I'd like to race some day soon.