Another small hands situation...

[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.