drops/brakes

[elk]

ah...excellent points you make....I don't need a shorter cockpit....I need longer fingers....I can ALMOST get them all around...

sooo..I need shims. Or should I get a new set of levers? Or try the shims first.


I'm SORRY if I'm being dense...I can't quite get a clear sense from the thread about my best option.


I know...I'll take a photo of MY hand!!!!

thanks Lisa she's my ride...wonder how ol'Sandra is liking her Aurora....

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yes the first (and best) thing to try is to see if they make shims for your current brifters! That would be a simple solution to the hand-grasping-the brakes issue.
Don't just take an LBS's word for it- see if you can contact Shimano and ask them if shims are available for your model shifters (I assume your brifters are Shimano?).
I thought you already knew that you had non-shimmable brifters....sorry, or I would have recommended this first before changing bars.

[elk]

here's where we are

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yikes i know that feeling well.

Nice clematis.

[dex]

Looking at those pictures, I think the first thing I'd try is repositioning the levers a little further down on the bar. That might buy you just enough distance to make you feel more comfortable getting a bit more of your fingers around the levers.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Looking at those pictures, I think the first thing I'd try is repositioning the levers a little further down on the bar. That might buy you just enough distance to make you feel more comfortable getting a bit more of your fingers around the levers.

I know that seems to make sense, but have to say I tried that on mine and it just made my finger reach even worse. I tried everything. Shims were the only solution that really made a big difference in the hand spread and solved the short finger problem for me.

[dex]

Ultimately I ended up changing out my levers to solve my reach problems, but I don't think it would hurt to try moving the levers as a first step. If it happens to work, great. And if it doesn't, there are still other options to try. Just a thought.