Ladies road bike - brake lever adjustment

[Dwn]

My wife has just bought her first ever bike with drop bars, and is struggling a little with the brakes.

 

[Dwn]

My wife has just bought her first ever road bike, having previously only used flat bar hybrids. It’s a Decathlon Women’s Starter Road bike and has a dual lever set up with traditional levers at the hoods and and another set of levers at the front.
Her current hybrid has quite wide bars, so she finds the levers at the front too close together to be comfortable (from a bike handling perspective) but the levers at the hood are harder to reach and apply sufficient pressure.

I’ve rotated the bar slightly so that the hoods are a bit nearer, but there doesn’t appear an obvious was to adjust reach for the actual levers. They are a Microshift (480 something?) designed for smaller hands.

I can always try decathlon but thought I’d first try the experts here. Is there a way to adjust lever reach or even just take some of the stiffness out of the levers?

Thanks

 

[CanucksTraveller]

What brake levers are they? On many, if you peel up the very front lip of the rubber hood, and / or press the levers, you should see an adjusting screw. It could be an allen key or a flat blade screwdriver type. Turning that will adjust the reach of the lever.

 

[fossyant]

You can sometimes buy spacers for shimano levers to adjust reach, but not so sure about microshift. You could try and fit better cables that are PTFE lined which could improve smoothness. Looks like they are short reach already.

I wouldn't rotate the bars too much as that can make the levers more difficult to reach. Have you thought about a shorter stem for now ?

 

[T4tomo]

You can sometimes buy spacers for shimano levers to adjust reach, but not so sure about microshift. You could try and fit better cables that are PTFE lined which could improve smoothness. Looks like they are short reach already.

I wouldn't rotate the bars too much as that can make the levers more difficult to reach. Have you thought about a shorter stem for now ?

There is no further adjustment on those microshift ones, they are already set for as short as reach as the adjustable or shimable shimano levers will get you on full adjustment.

a shorter stem would maybe help with reaching the main levers, but I think its just a bit of time to get used to the difference from wide flat bars to the position of the cross top levers. A bit of lube down the inside of the cable may help if they are a bit stiff

 

[MichaelW2]

Many women get used to riding bars that are too wide.
What brakes are the levers conbected to. Are the cables set up corretly?

 

[Cycleops]

I don't believe there is any reach adjustment in those Microsoft levers. I'm afraid if you want shorter reach/adjustment you'll need to buy some better levers.

 

[Dwn]

Thanks folks - it’s pretty much as I feared by the looks of things, in that they aren’t adjustable. The brakes themselves are fine - I’ve tried them and find them pretty good. However, I do have larger hands and a stronger grip.

 

[T4tomo]

I don't believe there is any reach adjustment in those Microsoft levers. I'm afraid if you want shorter reach/adjustment you'll need to buy some better levers.

They are the best levers out there for small hands, speaking as someone whose partner has small hands. Microshift do some good stuff short reach stuff, Frog and I think Isla bikes used them on their kids to teen road / CX bikes for that reason.