I got short reach brifters with the shims installed on my new bike.
BIG difference. What a relief!!!
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Are those f you who have drop bars able to reach your brakes from the drops?
I can't.....
Discipline is remembering what you want.
I got short reach brifters with the shims installed on my new bike.
BIG difference. What a relief!!!
Lisa
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I can, but I have long fingers. I also have Campy brakes and that seems to make a bit of difference from what I've heard.
Small hands, Campy brakes, and I can reach them in my drops . . . but I don't really spend much time in that position.
I second Lisa's suggestion of short-reach brifters, and also, what bars are you using? Some anatomic bends can "fall away" from the levers too steeply, depending on hood placement and hand size.
I recently put FSA Wing Pro compact bars on my bike, and the round bend puts the curve of the bar much closer to the levers than most of the anatomic bends I've had. It might be worth taking a look at different bars too.
I can actually brake better from the drops because my fingers are extending directly toward the levers rather than trying to wrap around them from the hoods. I can only really reach them with 2-1/2 fingers, but that's plenty.
Speed comes from what you put behind you. - Judi Ketteler
I've never used the drops, it makes me bent over too far. I'd like to drop the drops right off my handlebars, since they're dead weight to me.
BRAKESET
Tektro forged
alloy cantilevers
with Shimano Tiagra STI levers and Tektro
safety levers
HANDLEBAR
Ritchey BioMax II Road, 380mm (47),
Discipline is remembering what you want.
oh but you should be able to use your drop position, especially for descents - much more power on the brakes, and control of your bike!!
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Try WSD bars or bars labeled as "compact" (like the FSA ones mentioned) or "short-reach". The bend in the bar will generally make it so the levers are a bit closer. Also take a look at where the hoods are positioned on your bars. If you can move them up or down a bit and then change the bar rotation to make them comfy on the top still, you *might* be able to get the levers a bit closer. I think SRAM levers have adjustable reach. Some people like Campy for its design too, though I think I'd have a hard time using the thumb shifters from the drops. There are also wedges you can get installed in Shimano shifters to bring them closer. Note if you install these, you may need to loosen your brakes.
For me, the bar change was all I needed, but I have fairly long fingers.
I had Tiagra levers and couldn't reach them from the drops for anything--I have really short fingers. I ended up changing my bars to the short-reach Bontrager FIT (similar in shape to the FSA bars that aicabsolut has mentioned), which helped a little but I still couldn't comfortably reach. Ultimately, I needed the combination of the short-reach bar and short-reach brifters with a shim (Shimano R700) to get enough reach to get a solid grip (i.e. more than one finger) on my brakes from the drops--descending became a far more fun and less harrowing experience after that.
There's another discussing of this stuff here:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=23110
I thought Tiagra levers came with shims...
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