Small hands and STI Levers

[Kathi]

I recently changed my bars to Specialized Ruby carbon bars. The drop is smaller and I can now reach around the brake in the drops which I could not do before. Just a suggestion if you have a Specialized dealer in your area.

I checked out the Specialized bars when I built my bike, the smallest size is 38cm which was the case for many of the women's bars I considered.

I wonder why companies who market handlebars to women fail to recognize that some women have narrower shoulders than 38cm.

[bounceswoosh]

I'm not sure how much this helps vs. 38cm, but the Bontrager FIT VR is available in 36cm:

http://bontrager.com/model/06244/en

That's the model that came on my Madone, although I'm not sure which width is on there.

[Kathi]

Thanks, for me the solution was the Modolo Venus in a 34 cm.

[madscot13]

i wish these bars that everyone is mentioning came in 26.0 clamp.

[VeloVT]

Madscot -- not sure what size you need, but if 38 is sufficiently narrow, Ritchey Biomax bars come in a 38 cm width/26.0 diameter. That's what I had on my old bike. I liked them.

Also Deda makes two 26.0 models that come in narrower widths -- Piega and 4Girls. I have no experience at all with the 4Girls bar (though I think there are a few people on TE that have them), but I have the Piega on my cross bike (they were stock) and they're just kinda ok. Pretty deep drops, and the anatomic bend is not the most comfortable bend in the world. If you are looking at Deda note that they measure outside-outside, so a 40-cm Deda bar is roughly equivalent to a 38-cm c-c bar.

I wish Deda made the Newton Bar with the shallow round bend (called "Italian Classic) in smaller sizes . Sigh...

I'll bet Ritchey makes a few other models too, they make so many bars...

Good luck!

Edit: Biomax are also available in 36 cm. Ritchey's Pro Logic bar is also available in 38cm/standard diameter.

[Andrea]

I have the biomax bars & love them!

Mine are a 40cm, though. I went down a size from 42cm since the drops flare out a bit. I've got wide shoulders

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We're really talking about two completely different issues here....bar fit and hand/brakelever fit.
The shortest shallowest narrowest bars in the world still won't help you if your fingers are too short to wrap around your brake levers. The problem of the original poster is that the levers splay too far out, for larger men's hands. Bringing the bar back just won't give you longer fingers. I found that out myself.
You need short reach brake levers/brifters and or ones with shims in them.
I really wonder when manufacturers are going to get a clue and make these things in sizes other than for men to BEGIN WITH, instead of needing to get shims. Not all levers and brifters take shims.