Braking from the hoods

[Veronica]

I have good stopping power when braking from the hoods, but I prefer to be down in the drops on a long descent. I feel it gives me better control of the bike.

V.

[SouthernBelle]

I have much better braking power from the hoods as well. I have very short fingers, so sometimes I come up off the drops to brake from the hoods, even with my shimmed brake levers. So I guess I just find it odd that braking from the hoods is difficult.

Is it actually physically difficult, or is it a mental thing?

[rij73]

Wow, your braking is *better* from the hoods? No, it's definitely harder for me to brake from the hoods. Maybe cause the Shimano hoods are so bulky?

[SouthernBelle]

No I've got Shimano. But I have very poor reach from the drops. Stubby fingers.

[mimitabby]

I repeat, if her body is not fitting the bike right, there could be extra stress on the hands.
It's not necessarily the size of her hands; but gloves might help too.

I wish Triskelion was reading this thread; she could be very helpful.

[rij73]

Mimi, what kind of changes helped your hand pain?

[Triskeliongirl]

I agree with Mimi, it's probablyabout fit. Do you get the pain only when you train to brake, or is it persisstent from riding in the hoods? If your weight is too far forward on the bike, that can lead to handpain (which sometimes can be fixed by pushing the saddle further back). If the angle at which your hands contact the hoods is wrong, that can too (which can be changed by adjusting the bar angle). You want your hands to contact the hoods in a neutral hand-shake position, while being flat on top may be optimal for someone, haveing the hooks parallel to the ground is optimal for others. I don't think any of this can really be troublepshoot it over the internet. Why not ask an expert (i.e. is the shop that sold you the bike nearby) to look at you riding and see if they can see an obvious reason for the problem. If that's not possible, post a pic of you sitting on your bike trying to brake on your trainer, taken as parallel as possible to you, and we'll see what we can do.

[Kathi]

I have small hands too and have less strength braking from the hoods. At first I was uncomfortable with braking from the drops and I did what Dirt Diva said practiced on flats or easy downhills. Using my drops on long downhills has become so natural to me that I don't even think about it anymore and now being on the hoods is more scary.

For me it was also a matter of getting the correct fitting bar. Ideally, I need a 34cm handlebar bar but had 38 cm on my bike. Because my bar was so wide my elbows angled out instead of straight and also required my hands to angle at the wrist. I'm sure this put a lot of stress on my arm muscles because braking from the hoods or drops was painful on long descents.

Getting the correct width bar with drops that put me closer to the brake levers made all the difference in the world for me, no more odd angle of the arms and wrist. I still brake from the hoods on flats and for quick stops.

When I built my last bike my LBS wanted me to use Shimano levers instead of Campy. My fear was the Shimano levers were to bulky to brake from the hoods. From what I'm reading here I'm so glad that I stayed with Campy.

If they haven't done it have your bike shop measure your shoulders and verify that the width of your bars are correct.

[rij73]

This is all interesting. It's making me realize that perhaps this isn't just something I have to live with!

I'm meeting with a cycling instructor on Monday who also does fitting. I'll definitely ask him what he thinks, but this all gives me some good ideas for starters.

I bought the bike online and haven't been impressed with the service at any of my local shops. Hope this guy I'm meeting is good!