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#1
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My Small Hands or Which road drop handlebars will bring my handscloser to my brake levers?
Hi all,
I've googled this a few times but can't come up with an answer I can understand so apologies if you have already replied to a similar question. Last week I put drop bars on my v-braked mtb for the winter months on the road. I have a 90cm stem that brings my 42cm bars to a good position when I'm in the drops and on the top of the bars. My question: I've only used sti's and ergos before and I find that my new Dia-comp 287v brake levers (the lever bit itself and not the hoods) seem to be a bit further away from the drops than I can comfortable reach. They are fine to operate in the hoods, but when I'm in the drops my fingers barely reach the lever itself so I can't rest my fingers on them in traffic. I can get one finger to them but inorder to get 2 I need to roll my wrists forwards a bit. Oddly enough, everything about the set up is perfect, other than that particular measuremnt, I wonder if the dia-comps need more leverage to pull the v-brake cable and are set further away from the hoods? Whats the best way to bring the levers closer to the bar? They don't seem to have any type of reach adjustment aka mtb levers. It just seems that my sti's and pervious ergos have a curve in the lever which brings the ends closer. I'd put a pair on but I'm running my mtb as a singlespeed and the gear shifter bit wouldn't be necesary. Are any bars made that will shorten the distance between the bar's drop and the lever itself? Would a womens bar do the trick? A final question. Can someone tell me what bar manufactures mean when they describe their REACH and DROP measurements? Any help would be appreciated! cheers |
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#2
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Most modern "anatomic" handlebars do not work well for people with small hands because they tend to increase the distance to the lever. Two things that I do that help (I have pretty small hands). First, I move the levers farther down on the bars than is normal. It makes it a bit less comfortable to ride on the brake hoods, of course, but it's less of a stretch to reach the levers. Second, I leave the brake adjustment a bit on the loose side so that I can get a couple of fingers around the lever before the pads hit the rim. I'm using ITM bars, which have a somewhat less pronounced "anatomic" bend to them as well. -- packmagician |
#3
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Check out the Salsa POCO bars, very nice for small hands.
andy "packmagician" wrote in message news Most modern "anatomic" handlebars do not work well for people with small hands because they tend to increase the distance to the lever. Two things that I do that help (I have pretty small hands). First, I move the levers farther down on the bars than is normal. It makes it a bit less comfortable to ride on the brake hoods, of course, but it's less of a stretch to reach the levers. Second, I leave the brake adjustment a bit on the loose side so that I can get a couple of fingers around the lever before the pads hit the rim. I'm using ITM bars, which have a somewhat less pronounced "anatomic" bend to them as well. -- packmagician |
#4
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Me wrote:
A final question. Can someone tell me what bar manufactures mean when they describe their REACH and DROP measurements? Any help would be appreciated! I know that 3T's prima199 prima220 and grandprix bars is nade in 3 different shapes: anatmic round deep round take a look on the last of the 3 shapes, ITM used to make to round + an anatmnic shape as well (at least the pro220, pro260 and pro2 existed in the 3 different shapes) -- Morten Reippuert Knudsen :-) http://blog.reippuert.dk PowerMac G5: 1.6GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 300+80GB Disk, 8xDVD+/-RW, Bluetooth mus+tastatur, FX5200 Ultra, iSight, eyeTV200 & LaCie Photon18Vision TFT |
#5
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Me says...
Hi all, I've googled this a few times but can't come up with an answer I can understand so apologies if you have already replied to a similar question. Last week I put drop bars on my v-braked mtb for the winter months on the road. I have a 90cm stem that brings my 42cm bars to a good position when I'm in the drops and on the top of the bars. My question: I've only used sti's and ergos before and I find that my new Dia-comp 287v brake levers (the lever bit itself and not the hoods) seem to be a bit further away from the drops than I can comfortable reach. They are fine to operate in the hoods, but when I'm in the drops my fingers barely reach the lever itself so I can't rest my fingers on them in traffic. I can get one finger to them but inorder to get 2 I need to roll my wrists forwards a bit. Oddly enough, everything about the set up is perfect, other than that particular measuremnt, I wonder if the dia-comps need more leverage to pull the v-brake cable and are set further away from the hoods? Whats the best way to bring the levers closer to the bar? They don't seem to have any type of reach adjustment aka mtb levers. It just seems that my sti's and pervious ergos have a curve in the lever which brings the ends closer. I'd put a pair on but I'm running my mtb as a singlespeed and the gear shifter bit wouldn't be necesary. Are any bars made that will shorten the distance between the bar's drop and the lever itself? Would a womens bar do the trick? A final question. Can someone tell me what bar manufactures mean when they describe their REACH and DROP measurements? Any help would be appreciated! cheers In addition to the Salsa bar already mentioned, Deda makes shallow bars that might fit you better than what you have. Reach measures how far the bars protrude from the straight part where the clamp is. Drop measures the distance from the straight part of the bar to the lowest part that points to the rear of the bike. If you are lucky, the specs will tell you how it is measured, for example from the center of the tube at both ends of the measurement, or center to center. Unfortunately, the measuring conventions may vary depending on the manufacturer. |
#6
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On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 20:43:52 +0000, Me wrote:
...drop bars...Dia-comp 287v brake levers Whats the best way to bring the levers closer to the bar? I've heard of a shim clamped between the bar and the lever body, under the upper part of the lever body. |
#7
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On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 20:43:52 +0000, Me wrote:
Whats the best way to bring the levers closer to the bar? Hard to explain, but I added a 'shim' to my 105 levers. Imagine a spacer at the top of the silver handle where it comes to rest against the main body. This pushed the handle closer to the handlebars. I made the spacers from aluminum, lathed and beveled to fit inside the top of the lever, drilled and tapped to hold in place. Worked like a charm. I could put the hoods where I wanted and get the reach that I wanted, a combination that I couldn't achieve before. They don't seem to have any type of reach adjustment aka mtb levers. It just seems that my sti's and pervious ergos have a curve in the lever which brings the ends closer. I'd put a pair on but I'm running my mtb as a singlespeed and the gear shifter bit wouldn't be necesary. Are any bars made that will shorten the distance between the bar's drop and the lever itself? Would a womens bar do the trick? I have never had this kind of reach problem with traditional round bend drop bars. I've only had it with brake levers and 'anatomic' bend bars. I have the same model brake levers on a round and an anatomic, bars with very similar reaches and drops, and I needed the shim on the anatomic but not on the round. I wonder if the 'historical confluence' of dual pivot brakes, integrated shifters, and anatomic bends led to changes that make simple aero brake levers sit differently on anatomic bars? |
#8
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On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 20:43:52 +0000, Me wrote:
Are any bars made that will shorten the distance between the bar's drop and the lever itself? Would a womens bar do the trick? Getting drop bars without a "modolo" bend will get your hands closer to the levers. The bar won't have a flat spot but a gentle, continuous curve. |
#9
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Try Deda, Easton or Cinelli handlebars. They offer the shortest reach/shallowest drop on the market. I have relatively small hands and use Deda Newton shallow drop bars which have an 80 mm reach and are 135 mm in the drops. They fit my hands perfectly. I have no problems with reaching the brakes from the drops, they are very stiff which i like and their classic looks are a bonus -- Provence1971 |
#10
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Ritchey WCS classic drop135, reach 82
R Biomax Pro drop 130, reach 75 Salsa Poco drop, 140 reach 70 B (remove clothes to reply) |
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