small hands , small lady - how do I reach the brakes??

lynneyb

Are there any ladies out there with tiny hands that have overcome the difficulty of controlling the brakes without having to reach for the drop every time? I bought a Giant OCR in 2007 and have hardly ridden it due to lack of confidence. My main problem is the reaching of the brakes from the top of the levers. I can control them from the drops but I don't feel as confident riding this way. The bike I have isn't a women's specific, just a size small. I'm only 5ft tall so it is a small bike. I've had a few bits and bobs changed but none that make any difference. It is the Shimano sora flightdeck and I have had an extra spacer fitted but still no joy! Before I put the bike on ebay, I'd like to give this one more try and look for advise. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really like to hear them.

Many thanks

Lynneb

Juju_uk_68

Firstly, let me check I'm understanding you correctly.

You say that when your on the drops, you don't have a difficulty, so can we assume that the levers/buttons themselves are not too far apart or too big for your hands to operate.

The problems are therefore from the above, that its operating them when "stretched out" in a rididng postion thats the issue.

Therefore your frame is possibly too big.

When buying a bike, everyone gets hung up over the height of the seat tube and thinking leg length is the crucial issue of frame size. It in my opinion isn't. The most criticalchange in increasing frame sizes is the length of the top tube, ie the reach from saddle to bars. I suspect that you are too stretched for comfort.

For instance, if I use a conventional measuring guide, ie the Evans Cycles, they tell me I should be riding a 54 cm frame, as a 5'7 man. However, I found most 53's were still too stretched. I could hold the bars, but was so stretched out that I could bareley operate the controls. Dropping all the way down to a 50cm, made it perfect. Measuring guides are not usually accurate. Did you try the bike before you bought it?

Firstly, I would for a cheap fix, try moving the saddle forward as far as you can. Secondly, see if you can try a shorter stem, to close up the length of the bike.

If they don't work, I'd think about changing the frame.

rally200

there are 2 sizes of spacer for shimano sti - the smallest makes hardly any difference.

leedsmjh

Shimano ST-R600 (9 speed) STIs are meant for small hands and are certainly a lot smaller than 105 and I think a bit smaller than Sora

julietp

lynneyb wrote:

Are there any ladies out there with tiny hands that have overcome the difficulty of controlling the brakes without having to reach for the drop every time? I bought a Giant OCR in 2007 and have hardly ridden it due to lack of confidence. My main problem is the reaching of the brakes from the top of the levers. I can control them from the drops but I don't feel as confident riding this way. The bike I have isn't a women's specific, just a size small. I'm only 5ft tall so it is a small bike. I've had a few bits and bobs changed but none that make any difference. It is the Shimano sora flightdeck and I have had an extra spacer fitted but still no joy! Before I put the bike on ebay, I'd like to give this one more try and look for advise. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really like to hear them.

Many thanks

Lynneb

I have a female specific bike which is meant to counteract this problem amoungst others. Although the bike fits me very well in other ways, I too cannot properly break unless on the drops (my fingertips can jsut about reach the breaks from the top but I can't get any purchase on them). This doesn't bother me personally but I thought I'd let you know that maybe it is just a common problem - I am 5ft 3 and ride a 52cm bike.

Juju_uk_68

Oh, and it might be worth looking at Campag kit, it's reputedly smaller, as Italians generally are. Although I don't recall the Japanese being especially tall either.

I've got small hands, and you all know what that means........

















Small gloves.....

lynneyb

Juju_uk_68

Thanks for the tips, I'll try moving the seat etc and have another shop around and see what alternatives are out there. I looked today at a Scott bike that had sram rival brake gears on and they felt easy to grip, just a bit pricey!

star_rover

You could also try a compact/short reach drop bar, if your bike doesn't already have one. That should brings the shifters a bit closer as well.

stabilised

Islabikes - the kids' specialists - use Sora, I think, on their Luath road bikes and reputedly have had them adapted to fit the small hands of children as young as 9 or 10. You could get in touch with them and ask advice (I've recently bought my daughter a bike from them and they were very friendly) or possibly even buy one of their sets. They also source specially designed drop bars for children that could be a way of helping with reach, too.

speckybecky

Hi Lynneyb,

I have a women's specific Giant, and it came with the ST-R700 levers, and a shallower drop handlebar than the men's bikes, it has greatly improved my ability to brake compared to other kit I have used (Sora, Tiagra, 105 and Campag Xenon). Campag is not likely to help you - the reach on camag stuff is greater than on Shimano and not as easily adjustable, and it would also be stupidly expensive to change your bike from Shimano to Campag as you would have to buy a whole new groupset.

Is your bike a small or an extra small giant? The top tube length on a small giant is actually quite long compared to the standover height because of the compact geometry. I am 5'4" with quite a long back and ride smalll TCR CW with a 80mm stem. Generally the men's bikes will have a longer top tube than the women's bikes. If you are 5 foot and riding small men's frame then it is quite likely that the frame is too big for you and this will cause problems with reaching the brakes etc.

If you have a friendly bike shop local to you it might be worth popping in and getting their opinion of the bike fit. They might be able to change the stem and handlebars for you, fit the larger spacer in the brake unit and generally make the bike more comfortable for a lot less than buying a whole new bike!

Hope this helps!

Becky

AMcD

I put a women's specific drop bar on my tourer - the drops are shallower and the width from end to end only 38cm - I've read that your arms should fall naturally straight out in front, not reaching outwards which would happen on a wider bar.

As for reaching the brakes I don't have female specific or adjustable ones as I only had a choice of one kind when changing my bits over from a flat bar to drops.

To make things easier I put the brakes as high up on the drops that I could (more or less where the curve stops). This means the reach is much easier than if they were half way down the drops (if you know what I mean). A simple thing to try and change, perhaps with a shorter stem too. Of course, if you like riding on the drops, which I don't, then doing it this way means you probably couldn't reach the brakes from the drops.

My hands are also tiny with short fingers - I couldn't reach the thumb shifters on my MTB without taking my hand off the bar and reaching underneath so ended up having dual shifters / brakes put on. The levers could be adjusted to fit too. Expensive but made the world of difference .

dazzawazza

If you haven't already, get some better brake pads with a softer compound.
This will make braking easier, because less power is required on the brake levers.
I would recommend Koolstop Salmon pads. The Dura type pads will fit any Shimano holders.
You could also consider a brake upgrade.

Also, if you have the older 8 speed Sora sifters (most likely on a 2007 bike) there is a reach adjustment screw under the hood rubber grip. I’m not sure about the newer 9 speed version.

Nik_B

Editted wrong section Sorry

Alibran

Just wanted to say that I have the same problem on my Trek 1.2WSD.

It's already a small frame, the bars are designed for women, and the brake levers are as high as they will go. But I do have extremely small hands.

I overcame the problem by getting used to it! If I have to, I can stop the bike in an emergency on the hoods, as long as it's dry. In the wet, I have no chance. But on the drops I can stop it with my fingertips, and it's lovely. So I end up riding on the drops more than most people. It's just an automatic transition. At the top of a hill, I go onto the drops, or if I see a possible hazard up ahead. And when the chances of having to brake suddenly are less, I move back onto the hoods again.

Maybe not the kind of answer you wanted, but for me it was just about adapting my riding style, and the result is I go faster too!

acorn_user

I'm a gent with smaller hands. I went with Campag gears because I could not get comfy stopping Shimano from the tops (drops were ok). You could try some women's specific handle bars to change the reach. Or get cross interrupter levers so you can brake on the tops. Like this:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Tektr ... 360027557/

andy_wrx

We've recently returned from a holiday in Italy where Mrs wrx and I hired bikes - mens' bikes.

Here at home, Mrs wrx has a Spesh Dolce women's bike, fitted with 105 shifters - not the ST600 or ST700 which are Shimano's small-hands shifters, but 'normal' 105 shifters.

But what it also has is some small plastic spacers, with a Specialized logo on them, so they're Spesh not Shimano, which fit inside the shifters, basically acting to not allow the shift lever to fully close when you release it, which means it's nearer the bar in it's 'off' position so less reach required from smaller hands.

Knowing we'd be hiring men's bikes in Italy, I took along some small chips of wood and some black electrical tape, just taped the chips of wood to the top of the brake lever, so that when released it was still slightly open and released-off the brakes a bit on the adjuster screws.

It looked dreadful but did the trick, was easy to do to the hire bike and easy to remove at the end of the week.

Obviously the plastic spacers are designed to do the job a bit more elegantly !

justresting

anyone know who stocks the spacers? I think someone put a link up a while back but I can't find it.

andy_wrx

Google
specialized slim shim

Evans, EBC, JE James, Sigma, etc, etc

justresting

andy_wrx wrote:

Google
specialized slim shim

Evans, EBC, JE James, Sigma, etc, etc[/quote

ta for that