Margo, what do you think of Eden's remark that shimming effects the braking effeciency (I think that is what she means by 'throw' but not sure). I have shims on order for my new bike. I am fine reaching the levers and braking from the hoods, but in the drops, i.e. I couldn't ride with my fingers contacting the levers, I'd have to move them out to brake so was thinking to shim, but I don't want to compromise my braking effectiveness. I am used to ultegra 9 short reach levers. I agree, these durace 10 ones are ridiculously huge, but I am not going to change them now.

Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
1-3 spot on
4 - shallow refers to the distance between the top of the bar and the drop. Reach - distance that the bars stick out forward, width - how wide side to side
5 -yep, shims move the lever a little closer into the bars. If you shim then your brakes does have a little less throw, but I don't think its generally an issue