Gear for little people

[Kathi]

I'm in the process of designing a custom road frame and building it up and wow, a few things really frustrate me.

Handlebars: I measure 34cm from shoulder to shoulder (w/prof. bike fit). Handlebars are only available in 38cm and up, and many of the good ones don't even come in 38cm. Then, there is a huge drop and too much for my little hands- I can't use Campy parts because I can't actually reach the brakes. I found an aluminum Bontrager I like, but it doesn't have an ergo flat top which I would like. I just feel like there needs to be someone out there designing handlebars, perhaps even carbon ones (?!) for us smaller gals.

Shoes: The Sidi Genius 5.5 only comes in (eu)38 and up. I have small feet. Reduced choices again.

Zipp: Have you checked out their website? The gear they sell and the pictures that illustrate their offerings would leave you to believe that very few women use Zipp wheels.

Don't merchants realize what a huge part of the consumer market we are???

I'm a small rider too and have the Modolo Venus bars in a 34cm width. I love my Campy Record shifters because they fit so nicely between my thumb and forefinger.

The bend on the Modolo Venus bars are designed to bring the hand closer to the brake levers.

I also suggest that you don't let the mechanics adjust your brakes to their strength. A loose cable brings the lever in a little more and is easier for my short fingers to reach the lever.

The Deda 4girls handlebars will be to wide for you, I had them before I discovered the Modolo Venus bars and there is a world of difference between the 2 bars. I had a very difficult time reaching the brake levers, not sure if that was because the bars were to wide,th e reach on the bend to long or both.

You don't say what your weight is but I bought handbuilt wheels from Jeremy at Alchemey bicycles in Santa Fe, NM. I used him because he was able to get Nimble Spider rims. They are designed for a lighter rider and Jeremy spec'ed the wheels to my weight rather than a 180 lb rider. The wheelset is not as fancy as my American Classic sprint 350's but I get a much smoother ride. They are very light wheels with tune hubs.

If you decide to go Campy and need a 165 crankarm I use the Specialities TA Carmina. I believe you can get it as a double, compact double or triple. You can chose the chainring sizes, I'm currently using a compact 48-34. The crankset works very well with a campy cassette.

Here's the link to pictures my custom Serotta. I don't know what happened to the last 2 pictures but you can see part of the crankset.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=8515