from 105 to Tiagra

[carlotta]

One difference between beater & soma is that beater, being a single speed, has small hoods. On the Soma, I keep wanting to pull my hands back off the hoods, which might be because they're too fat for my hands.

Crazy, crazy idea here: What if you put bar end shifters on it so you could use hoods similar to the ones you like on your SS?

I had a similar feeling with the stock hoods on my Cross Check-- they were too wide for the space between my thumb/first finger and my hands never felt comfortable on them. Since it already had bar ends, I just swapped the levers for an old set of Shimano's that I had kicking around and voila, problem solved. I've never ridden brifters, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing, but the bar ends are easy (probably a bit easier than the d/t shifters on my roadie).

[Chicken Little]

I got the same thing going on. My cheap REI steel frame bizillion pound steel frame cycle cross improved my century time by 1 hour because I didn't have to stop and stretch my back like I don on my custom steed. Beats me, but I sold the Serotta. Is it a collective psychic event?

Probably not.

[Seajay]

I have a theory that sometimes riders with some experience go chasing hand and shoulder discomfort by raising the handlebar....when in actuality they have settled into a lower position on the bike and the bars are now trying to cram the hands and shoulders back and up.
I've had a lot of luck with these people by LOWERING the bar a tad. A good test would be to look for about 2cm difference in height between the top of the saddle and the top of the handlebar. If you have less....try moving it to that 2cm position for a day or two and see what happens. My 2c