riding with hands hovering over brake levers

geekpie

Hi. I recently started commuting on an 80s road bike (think Raleigh Team Banana ie fairly cheap bike) after many years on a mountain bike. I like the speed and look of drop handlebar bikes.

In heavy traffic, I like to ride with my fingers hovered over the brake levers. This was very easy to do on a mountain bike without any loss of control.

On a drop handlebar bike, I am forced down low if I want to do this due to the position of the brake levers, and also I feel I have a less tight grip on the bars.

I am about to buy a new bike. Unless I can find a way of improving my time to get the to the brakes, I will reluctantly return to a mountain bike round town. Is there a bike type or a drop handlebars solution I haven't thought of?

monkeycowboy

Ride on the hoods? Suicide levers?

TommyEss

Most people ride "on the hoods" - like this

If your bars or the brake levers are too low for this, you can try a different stem to raise them, or move the brakes slightly. (Assuming you have a quill stem you can pick up some pretty cheap ones with a steeper angle to raise the bars - just check the measurements of the quill (most likely 1") and the stem (again, on older bikes, almost certainly 1" - but measure and check!)

Pickle Lily

Get a hybrid?

geekpie

Hi, these are great suggestions, thanks.

Can I just check, TommyEss, when you say.

Assuming you have a quill stem you can pick up some pretty cheap ones with a steeper angle to raise the bars

does "ones" refer to brake levers, and if so, why would the diameter of the quill and the stem affect what levers would fit?

TommyEss

No, I meant a new stem. It might be better to uploads picture of your current set up and we can give some suggestions.

corshamjim

geekpie wrote:

Is there a bike type or a drop handlebars solution I haven't thought of?

Lots I'm sure!

This is my setup, which uses an insanely tall stem (Humpert X-Act from Practical Cycles) and Dia-Compe under-drop brake levers. This gives good control and a more upright position for better vision in traffic while still having the option of using the drops (obviously without access to the brake levers) for fighting a headwind.



The levers aren't expensive. I bought mine from SJSC, also available at Fresh Tripe.

p.s. be a bit careful about measuring the stem. 1" usually refers to the outside diameter of the head tube so the diameter of the stem itself would then be about 22.2 mm. If in doubt, give the supplier a call and discuss with them or even better take your bike in to the bike shop so they can confirm what you're buying is an appropriate replacement. Raleigh sometimes used rather non-standard sizes, so don't just assume it's either 1" or 1 1/8". To compound matters you'll need to make sure the clamp is right for the diameter of your handlebar too.

geekpie

Thanks this is turning into a genuinely useful thread. I think I will pursue riding on the hoods a bit more before thinking of a completely different solution like yours corshamjm. I will post a photo of my setup as suggested.

I tried riding on the hoods yesterday through town. Although I am a male, My hands aren't as big as the one in your photo tommyess. I found that while useful for minor speed adjustments, I would not be confident of having enough strength for an emergency stop in that position.

Daz555

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_i-k.html#interrupter

The Boardman CX range has these IIRC.

corshamjim

My hands are quite small too. I did find riding on the hoods (on my Trek which has more conventional drop bars) a lot easier after fitting a slightly higher/shorter stem. Even a quite small change in handlebar angle or brake lever position might make a difference too. Next time you have the handlebar tape off, it's worth experimenting a bit before fitting new tape.

I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable braking in the drops - but personally I feel braking in the drops is a bit of a fruitless exercise - ie why be in an aero postion when what you want to do is slow down?? (you can tell I never ride competitively!)

geekpie

Actually I find riding on the hoods a very comfortable position, and it's not immediately clear to me why using a higher stem to raise the handlebars would make it any more comfortable: you're already in a much more upright position than if you were on the drop handlebar area. I will post a photo of my current setup.

Gizmo_

corshamjim wrote:

I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable braking in the drops - but personally I feel braking in the drops is a bit of a fruitless exercise - ie why be in an aero postion when what you want to do is slow down?? (you can tell I never ride competitively!)

The reason is that pros only need the brakes when going downhill, not to stop at traffic lights etc.

And going downhill, you get in the drops for aero.

agg25

It's for the problem you originally stated that I'm not going for a road bike for my 9 mile commute through London. Instead I'm getting a Boardman Hybrid Pro, which I think with slightly wider tyres, disc brakes, flat bar, still light at 8.5kgs, is the perfect commuter for me.

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_pro.html

geekpie

Would one look very out of place turning up for a local triathlon with that particular Boardman bike?

geekpie

Here is a photo of my current setup. I am getting more used to riding on the hoods with my index and middle fingers hovering on the brake levers, but I would still welcome ideas to make it easier.

Kieran_Burns

Daz555 wrote:

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_i-k.html#interrupter

The Boardman CX range has these IIRC.

Interrupter brakes - my Tricross has them and the latest models can have them fitted as well. Personally I don't use them that often as I tend to cycle covering the brakes as shown above

rolf_f

TommyEss wrote:

Most people ride "on the hoods" - like this

This isn't an especially good idea for a bike with non aero hoods. Which a Raleigh Banana would normally have. The leverage from the hoods is far less as the fulcrum is lower down.

corshamjim wrote:

I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable braking in the drops - but personally I feel braking in the drops is a bit of a fruitless exercise - ie why be in an aero postion when what you want to do is slow down?? (you can tell I never ride competitively!)

It's not fruitless - it's always going to be the best place to brake from as you get the best leverage from the drops. You stop quicker if you brake from the drops.

geekpie

What are aero hoods: do any of the photos on this page have aero hoods; my photo doesn't by the sound of it.

My bike isn't a Raleigh Banana by the way, it's an old Apollo: quite old I guess, from when Apollo made drop handlebars. Banana was trying to give a general idea of the quality of the bike.

roger_merriman

Rolf F wrote:

It's not fruitless - it's always going to be the best place to brake from as you get the best leverage from the drops. You stop quicker if you brake from the drops.

Which is a inherent drawback to road brake levers, in my experance in the dry modulating the brakes from the hoods is fine, as good as from the drops.

in the wet though the increased force due to wet rim brakes means drops give a fair bit better braking.

But will also shift more weight forward, which tends not to help bike handling.

rolf_f

geekpie wrote:

What are aero hoods: do any of the photos on this page have aero hoods; my photo doesn't by the sound of it.

Non-aero hoods are the ones where the brake cable comes out of the top of the hood rather than being routed under the tape. Otherwise they look superficially similar but the aeros had the fulcrum was raised giving much stronger braking (because it's nearer to your hands. So if the cable comes out of the top of the hood, then braking from the hood gives much less force. Fine for speed control but not for avoiding someone pulling out infront of you.

El Gordo

Gizmo_ wrote:

corshamjim wrote:

I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable braking in the drops - but personally I feel braking in the drops is a bit of a fruitless exercise - ie why be in an aero postion when what you want to do is slow down?? (you can tell I never ride competitively!)

The reason is that pros only need the brakes when going downhill, not to stop at traffic lights etc.

And going downhill, you get in the drops for aero.

This is the problem; road bikes are designed for racing not commuting through traffic. On my old commuter (an old Trek roadbike) I fitted bullhorn bars (a cut down set of drops, flipped over) which put the brakes right under my hands all the time. I never used the drops round town anyway so figured I might as well loose them. Worked a treat.

Having said that I've now got a Croix de Fer and have no intention of making the same mod but it's got disc brakes which are so much better that braking from the hoods is no issue at all.