Small hands Big brakes?

teamtalairan

I have a technical Q for you from a friend (girl) who has just been delivered a new road bike (her first road bike) who is fairly small in proportions. The bike 'Specialised' (according to Hargroves is absolutely the right size for her) BUT her hands are so small that the brakes are impossible for her to Squeeze. Note I say squeeze rather than reach - so its not a case of bringing them nearer with a shorter stem, its literally the distance from the drop handlebars to the actual brake. Now Hargroves have put spacers in, but apparently that's still no use. They're going to put in-line brakes on it, but that doesn't really solve the situation fully as she wont be able to drop down and also she has gears there so she'll always have to shift her hands down ...

ANY THOUGHTS?

ride_whenever

If with spacers she cannot reach the levers from the hoods then she has nowhere to go except another brand of shifters/groupset.

If she can reach them but cannot squeeze them due to the size then open up the brake QR a little so the lever sits further into the travel when braking. This should reduce the distance at the bite point which is the only part that actually matters if she can reach the brake when it is fully extended.

slowbike

practice!

the brakes from the hoods are the most difficult bit to do - especially with small hands ..

She can try rotating her hand around the hood so her thumb is hooked behind it - she should be able to get 3 fingers on the brake then ...

If she has problems on the drops it could be that she's not dropping her body down far enough - because they are the easier place to brake from.

As it's her first roadie then it will take quite a bit of getting used too - but with practice the confidence will come.

MichaelW

Some handlebar shapes give a smaller reach from the drops. Specialized should be pretty good since they make small bars. A list of small bars here

Is the STI lever the one for small hands?

rubyrider

I am a small female new to road cycling too. I bought a 2nd hand specialized Ruby ( women's bike) - 3 weeks ago. Mine already had extra small brakes on the front - I think these must be inline ones? To be honest I have not really used them yet as like you say, they are not near the gears and also, I don't feel so 'in control' with them.

I'm managing okay in the dropped position, though my hands do feel a bit achey after a ride. Maybe it'd be worse if i braked more? :shock: I've barely braked from the hood position - don't feel in control there. I'm guessing I'll get used to it though and my hands will probably get stronger?

I have found myself accidentally braking in the dropped position when trying to get on the larger chain ring at the front... More practice needed I guess, but I think larger hands would make it easier.

Muffintop

I have a specialised and the breaks came with Chocks which slid into the joint of the break lever to make it easier to break (I think that was the theory). I've had my bike just over a year now and I've only just become used to breaking on the hoods, when I started I found my hands getting sore - but I think that's more to do with over compensating due to nerves (gripping them extra tight to be extra cautious) than having to work hard to break. If I'm on a long decending skinny road with loads of turns I usually find my arms getting sore than my hands now.

Mx

rolf_f

Muffintop wrote:

I have a specialised and the breaks came with Chocks which slid into the joint of the break lever to make it easier to break (I think that was the theory). I've had my bike just over a year now and I've only just become used to breaking on the hoods, when I started I found my hands getting sore - but I think that's more to do with over compensating due to nerves (gripping them extra tight to be extra cautious) than having to work hard to break. If I'm on a long decending skinny road with loads of turns I usually find my arms getting sore than my hands now.

Mx

Brakes, brakes brakes, brakes, brakes, arrrrrhgghhhhhhhhhhh
If you must get the spelling wrong, please don't use the word so much!!!

Anyway, Shimano hoods are enormous! Quite what they were thinking of I don't know (maybe they were influenced by ET) but you can get smaller reach ones - I recently posted a link so a search might find that. Not cheap though. SRAM are smaller and Campag smaller still.

woodywmb

I know of someonewho had a hand transplant - the right hand - after being injured in a crash. Bit OTT I suppose but he swears by the bigger hand for braking. It was a Harley Street surgeon if you wanat to Google it.

racingcondor

I would try taking the bar tape off and moving the levers up and down on the handlebar. With a lot of bars you can increase or decrease the reach to the levers by doing that (usually by moving them further down) and then rotating the bars to bring the top of the hoods back to horizontal.

Other than that changing levers (as Rolf suggests) could be the best option but isn't cheap.

defycomp2

SRAM! You can adjust them to your hearts content with an allen key.