drops/brakes

[elk]

Are those f you who have drop bars able to reach your brakes from the drops?

I can't.....

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I got short reach brifters with the shims installed on my new bike.
BIG difference. What a relief!!!

[Flur]

I can, but I have long fingers. I also have Campy brakes and that seems to make a bit of difference from what I've heard.

[NbyNW]

Small hands, Campy brakes, and I can reach them in my drops . . . but I don't really spend much time in that position.

[VeloVT]

I second Lisa's suggestion of short-reach brifters, and also, what bars are you using? Some anatomic bends can "fall away" from the levers too steeply, depending on hood placement and hand size.

I recently put FSA Wing Pro compact bars on my bike, and the round bend puts the curve of the bar much closer to the levers than most of the anatomic bends I've had. It might be worth taking a look at different bars too.

[OakLeaf]

I can actually brake better from the drops because my fingers are extending directly toward the levers rather than trying to wrap around them from the hoods. I can only really reach them with 2-1/2 fingers, but that's plenty.

[sundial]

Are those f you who have drop bars able to reach your brakes from the drops?

I can--after I had shims installed on the brake levers. Me and Levi.....

[rij73]

I thought Tiagra levers came with shims...

[dex]

I thought Tiagra levers came with shims...

Mine didn't. *shrug*

[Zen]

Bontrager FIT VR w/BzzzKill damper inserts
Tiagra integrated shifters with shims.
I gots small hands and these are rated 5 stars (by me)

[elk]

Bontrager FIT VR w/BzzzKill damper inserts
Tiagra integrated shifters with shims.
I gots small hands and these are rated 5 stars (by me)

Zen...I have the same Brifters...your bars look really accessible!!!!

[SadieKate]

Short Reach is the horizontal measurement from the horizontal top of the bars to the front curve. It accomplishes a couple of things: decreases the total length of the cockpit (seat to hoods) and decreases the volume of the drop so someone with small hands isn't hitting her forearms on the top bar when riding in the drops (a bit of flare of the drops can help here also).

Short Drop is the vertical measurment from the horizontal top to the bottom of the drop.

The reach to the levers has more to do with the bend of the drop. As you research bars, be very careful that you understand that reach can mean different things.

The very elegantly translated Deda Elementi site talks about the bend's affect on reach to the lever:
The use of anatomic bendings has been spreading for many years and has supplanted the bendings conceived by past champs. Neverthless the last ones had and have the advantage of an easier gripping of the brake lever, if necessary. The gripping of all anatomic bendings is more difficult in case of users with small hands and not so easy for the other ones.
Deda Elementi has conceived an ANATOMIC version of any of its bendings with easier gripping thanks to a distance which is 13 mm. shorter than the one of all other bendings on the market.

[TxDoc]

Are those f you who have drop bars able to reach your brakes from the drops?

I can't.....

My guess is that if your bicycle is properly fitted (frame size, saddle height, fore/aft position, stem length, right spacers on the headset... and such) - you should be able to use your brake levers and shifters comfortably both from the hood and from the drops.
I would suggest that you get with your LBS and ask them to fit you properly. That may include some simple changes like re-orienting the handlebar or moving the position of the levers on the drops - or something more complex like adding/removing spacers, changing stem, moving the saddle back or forward...
Good luck!

[elk]

I'm a little puzzled, I suppose, about where my hands go....
If you look at the HB on this Aurora, you see there is a ledge where the curve straightens. I cannot reach from there...but heck, I can't imagine any hand that could looking at the config....Yet it looks like the right place to rest a hand.
If I put my hands inside the upper belly of the curve I can reach.

[aicabsolut]

I'm a little puzzled, I suppose, about where my hands go....
If you look at the HB on this Aurora, you see there is a ledge where the curve straightens. I cannot reach from there...but heck, I can't imagine any hand that could looking at the config....Yet it looks like the right place to rest a hand.
If I put my hands inside the upper belly of the curve I can reach.

That's kind of what SK was talking about with the ergo bends being not so ergo. Part of the problem in that picture is the mounting of the hoods. Part of it is the design of the bars. The final part is your hands. Ideally, you should be able to reach the brakes even resting on the flat part of ergo bend bars. The only place where they should be out of reach is way down near the bar ends, but most of the time you don't ride there. WSD bars have very short drops, so there isn't even much between the ergo bend and the bar end.

So long as you're comfortable up on the top part of the curve, I wouldn't worry about it. That tends to be a more aero position than being lower on the drops.