? About Reaching The Brakes

I've only ridden my road bike a few times and have a question about whether or not I should be able to reach the brakes from various hand positions. When my hands are on the hoods (I think that's what you call up top) I can get the tips of my pointer, middle and ring fingers on the brakes. In the drops, I can't reach them at all. Is this normal? Should I be able to wrap my fingers around the brakes from both hand positions with ease?

I'm trying to determine if I need to take the bike back to the shop for an adjustment. I've had the bike for a month and wonder if I should have to pay for this fix, if one is necessary in the first place.

Thanks,
Q

You should be able to reach your brakes comfortably from both the hoods and drops, if you cannot you definitely need to get some adjustments made. You may even need to look into different handlebars, brake shims, etc.

I'd try to get the shop that sold it to you to do the adjustment for free (of course if you do need different bars, you will have to buy those) - otherwise it is a new bike and this is something that is good customer service to take care of for you, but I would suspect if the position of the levers needs to change radically they will charge you for re-wrapping the handlebars.

Ask the shop where you bought the bike if they have the brake shims that might have come with your shifters. If they have them or can get them, they can then install them and this will really help your fingers be able to wrap around the brake levers, even more so than getting new bars in my opinion. I've done both and the shims were the real issue solver for me.

I also found that moving the brake levers/shifters down a little farther around the bend of the bars moves the levers closer. Look at the levers - are they pointing straight down, or are they angled forward a little? If they angle forward and out, and they are mounted high on the curve, you may be able to tweak them closer. I was surprised what a difference 1/4 - 1/2" made.

Then again, you could need new bars.