Another small hands situation...

[OakLeaf]

the way my index finger is positioned in a direct line with the pivot point of the brake lever

hmmmmmm. I wonder if you're actually too close? How does your reach feel otherwise, on your upper body? I would think that the farther your body gets behind the handlebars, the more your hands will tend to parallel the ground, which isn't necessarily comfortable on the hoods, but should give you solid braking position?

Just moving the levers higher on the bars might help you. I prefer mine kind of high. You still want them in the bends, so you can reach them in the drops and the levers are in a workable position, but there's a range of several centimeters.

[Faster Pussycat]

Hi Little Teapot,

I had this exact same problem and I am 157cm and ride a 44cm specialized ruby. I had a long reach to my brakes on the hoods and often rides my index fingers would lock up on breaking on long descents.

On the drops I couldn't reach my brakes at all. I have a bad neck and I was having some shoulder issues that ended up being related to the long "throw" of the 105 leaver - particularly the left one. Having small hands I had to reach around with my wrist, dropping the shoulder to get up on the big cog a the front.

I changed over to SRAM (force rather than rival) shifters and rear derailuer and shallower drop handlebars. I honestly would not go back to shimano. I test rode an 2010 Amira the other week that had the new "short reach" ultegra levers and it wasn't as nice as my SRAM set up.

SRAM isn't popular in Australia and lots of LBS don't like it - at least in my experience. Even at my LBS who fitted the new group set (I ended up with no shimano at all on my Ruby) there are only a couple of couple of guys who "get" sram and having it working like a dream.

I am not sure where you are located but my LBS here in Northern Sydney has a few SRAM bikes that you can try just to get a feel of if you like the shifting action (not everyone does).

[lunacycles]

SRAM brifters were partially (or in full, I can't remember) designed by a woman, btw.

[azfiddle]

I have pretty small hands, and I can't really use the brakes in the drops without consciously moving my hands- it's not impossible, but I often use the other set of brakes. The shop mentioned the shims, but I never followed up on it.

[little_teapot]

Update...

I went along to a skills class yesterday, and figured out that quite a lot of my problem may have been how I was positioning my hands together with relying too much on the back brake. Perhaps I have just been a bit slow making the transition from flat bar to the road bike (ie: newbie related issues NOT bike!!) I can't think how to explain it, but what I thought was dropping my wrist out too far seems to be quite a normal position.

I had a decent chat to the coach, and he thought my new hand position looked absolutely fine, I also got to see how lots of other women (several as short as me) manage with brakes/hoods. Result- I can now ride comfortably and am feeling way more confident with the brakes (using the 75% on the front tactic is completely new to me- but works a treat!).

Faster pussycat- I'm in Melbourne, but thanks for the info- SRAM does seem pretty rare here, especially to test ride. Sounds like we are the same height I'm on a 48cm bike- but I think I have really short legs... so maybe longer body?? anyway, bike seems to fit- but really good to hear your SRAM experiences... and I'll definitely go that way if I do ever feel the need to upgrade!

SO the current plan is to get out and ride now that I am feeling more confident... I'll hold onto my cash at the moment, but will monitor how things go- if any problems arise again I am armed with loads of info on what to do next!!

Happy riding all and thanks again!

[Faster Pussycat]

Good to hear you are feeling a little more confident. Definatley hang onto your cash until you are ready to upgrade. I learnt an overcapitalisation lesson pretty early! On your next bike they will generally swap out shimano for sram of a similar level for pretty much no or little cost.

I test rode an 48cm bike the other day and I also have short legs but it felt a little strange. Mostly because it was ultegra and I got to the traffic lights and couldn't workout how to change gears! I am not in love having such a small frame, I also do a bit of triathlon and she looks very odd hovering on the rack

I went the smaller frame as I like a bit of drop between the handle bars and saddle. On the 48cm it was already with no spacers so I couldn't get any lower. Sadly for this reason I may be destined for a lifetime of child size frames.

[Miranda]

I have the Shimano short reach shifters and love them. I test rode a bike with SRAM and I hated it. It would have been cheaper, and lighter the lbs pointed out. But, still not worth it imho. I felt the SRAM was: 1) a lot of reach, 2) harder tension to brake & hurt my hands, 3) did not like the double tap system, and 4) the shifting was rough compared to Shimano. It's an awful feeling having to 'think' about a function of your bicycle's performance that should be second nature. Hope it all works out for you in the end.