What do you think about WSD?

[OakLeaf]

Shimano has short-reach levers (R700) - they're Ultegra grade and priced to match. My hands are small but not tiny - R700s are fine for me.

I haven't ridden Campagnolo since the days of down-tube shifters, but many women here feel that Campy levers are easier on smaller hands.

Placement of the levers on the bars affects reach, as well. Shops probably wouldn't let you try that out since it involves re-wrapping the handlebars, but a good fitter should be able to advise you whether moving the levers or swapping out handlebars would help you enough.

[KnottedYet]

Whoops, I must have pulled my post as you were putting yours up! The true and effective top tube measurements were flipped on the Surly site, and that confused me, and I thought the bike would be way too long, and then I pulled the post and then I realized that no, I had it right the first time and disaster all around with great wailing and gnashing of teeth....

But anyway, here's the link again: http://surlybikes.com/bikes/pacer_complete/

I'm such an airhead...

Call the shop before you go, to see if they have the 42cm in stock. Even if they only have other Surlies in stock at 42cm, try them anyway. More bikes, more fun!

The extra brake levers up on the flat part of the bar that you saw are interruptor levers. They are popular on cyclocross bikes. They are fairly cheap, and can be added to a bike if you find one you like.

[runningcyclist]

Oakleaf. Thank you so much! Whenever I mentioned short-reach levers to guys in the bike shops they seemed to think I made it up! Shims were mentioned in an off-hand way but no-one said "Shimano do them". I'll go check that out.

Knotted, I thought I was losing it (more than usual) when I couldn't see your post but cheers on the name of the levers.

I'm feeling a little more hopeful that I can get a roadbike closest to my fit now. I too am getting a bonus but don't know what the exact amount as the shock at being told I was getting one meant I missed the actual figure my manager told me. I can wait til payday to find out. I'm sure once the taxman has taken his cut it will be a lot smaller than my list of goodies I'd like to get

Just seen the price for the RS700