Secondary Top Levers on Road Bike

[TheJDog]

I stuck one of a pair cane creeks on my commuting bike and it's great.

 

[Spinney]

She has quite small hands and found the brakes a bit too much of a stretch and only able to reach beyond the pivot point and thus only able to put pressure on the brakes with the tips of two fingers.

Is this with her hands on the hoods?

Or in the drops?

I haven't got small hands for a woman, and I can only brake effectively in the 2nd position, in spite of having ridden the drop bar bike for around 8 years. I have never been able to brake effectively with my hands on the hoods. So downhill and in any traffic, I usually ride in the 2nd position shown here.

 

[Kestevan]

Mrs Kes has small hands, and also suffers from eczema which can affect her grip strength.
She initially found it very difficult to reach the brakes on Shimano equipped bikes (from both hoods and drops), and was only really comfortable with SRAM.

However her new bike came with the new Shimano Ultegra (6800?) which has a much slimmer profile and adjustable lever reach and these are at least as good as SRAM. She did try hydraulic brakes as the lever pressure needed to brake fully is much reduced, however the current hydraulic hoods (both SRAM and Shimano) are far too bulky for her to be comfortable,

WRT Cross top levers, I've fitted them to Kes Jnrs bike with no problem, and they work perfectly even when descending 20% hills at 30mph+ in the wet - and yes he has proven this on several occasions - just don't tell his mum..

 

[Tom B]

Is this with her hands on the hoods?
View attachment 153168

Or in the drops?
View attachment 153169

I haven't got small hands for a woman, and I can only brake effectively in the 2nd position, in spite of having ridden the drop bar bike for around 8 years. I have never been able to brake effectively with my hands on the hoods. So downhill and in any traffic, I usually ride in the 2nd position shown here.

She hasn't found the confidence to get down into the lower position, and certainly not to be able to quickly drop down to grab the brake.

Whilst it looks like she should be able to manage, the pivot point seems to be lower than you'd expect and she struggles to apply decent pressure. I'm toying with the idea of moving the position of the levers/rotating the bar to see if that will help.

 

[Spinney]

She hasn't found the confidence to get down into the lower position, and certainly not to be able to quickly drop down to grab the brake.

Whilst it looks like she should be able to manage, the pivot point seems to be lower than you'd expect and she struggles to apply decent pressure. I'm toying with the idea of moving the position of the levers/rotating the bar to see if that will help.

Funnily, I found that riding in the lower position gave me more confidence (once I had got used to what felt initially like a more wobbly position) because I was more confident in my ability to brake when needed. It might be that a bit more time on quiet roads might help with confidence in general, and then you can choose the best option to sort the bike out so it suits her?

 

[srw]

She hasn't found the confidence to get down into the lower position, and certainly not to be able to quickly drop down to grab the brake.

Whilst it looks like she should be able to manage, the pivot point seems to be lower than you'd expect and she struggles to apply decent pressure. I'm toying with the idea of moving the position of the levers/rotating the bar to see if that will help.

I hate to say this, but this story does sound more and more familiar! And that photo, with the wrist almost straight, does make me wonder whether the reach is simply too long. I think I'd expect much more bend in the wrist than that. It's certainly worth flipping the stem over, possibly trying a shorter stem if you can find one, rotating the bars and moving the levers closer - but all that will only get you so far.

Somewhere in the bowels of the forum there's a discussion about how dreadful bike manufacturers are at sizing bikes for women.

 

[Globalti]

They are easy to fit but it's time-consuming. Be sure to fit them angled down in line with the line of the arms.

 

[velovoice]

I hate to say this, but this story does sound more and more familiar! And that photo, with the wrist almost straight, does make me wonder whether the reach is simply too long. I think I'd expect much more bend in the wrist than that. It's certainly worth flipping the stem over, possibly trying a shorter stem if you can find one, rotating the bars and moving the levers closer - but all that will only get you so far.

Exactly what I'm thinking. #beentheredonethat
If she's not comfortable on the hoods and the 'obvious' answer is to bring her hands back to the tops of the bars, that very much indicates the reach is too long. The result is weight distribution that is not what the bike was designed for and the handling will suffer, which will only feed her feelings of insecurity.
Shorter and/or higher rise stem may help but it's still a fudge. Rotating the bars is an interesting experiment for many small women -- I've yet to see it work. The result is usually an even sharper bend in the wrist. That gets painful and can do long term damage. There is another factor to consider: forcing yourself to reach too far to the bars can compromise your control of the bicycle. An extreme case I know of (where every effort was being made to make a too-long bike "fit", including short stem, rotated bar, etc) resulted in the rider being unable to look over either shoulder or lift one hand from the bars to indicate.

 

[Tom B]

I hate to say this, but this story does sound more and more familiar! And that photo, with the wrist almost straight, does make me wonder whether the reach is simply too long. I think I'd expect much more bend in the wrist than that. It's certainly worth flipping the stem over, possibly trying a shorter stem if you can find one, rotating the bars and moving the levers closer - but all that will only get you so far.

Somewhere in the bowels of the forum there's a discussion about how dreadful bike manufacturers are at sizing bikes for women.

It probably doesn't help that in the picture the bike is in the turbo, possibly not with the front wheel in the block and she wasn't sat properly on the bike, she may even have had her feet on the floor. But point taken. The bike was bought from a reputable cycle shop and adjusted by them to suit her sizing. I have to say i think she looks quite well on it and it really does seem to be a reach issue around the levers.

Funnily, I found that riding in the lower position gave me more confidence (once I had got used to what felt initially like a more wobbly position) because I was more confident in my ability to brake when needed. It might be that a bit more time on quiet roads might help with confidence in general, and then you can choose the best option to sort the bike out so it suits her?

I take your point and from what I recall when I last rode a drop bar I was the same, however confidence is everything here. Knowing the boss as I do, she'd find it hard to build up confidence following a spill. So its best not to lose it in the first place.

I think I'll add some interrupters, they not expensive nor do they appear to be difficult to fit.

 

[Apollonius]

Shimano brake lever/shifters are criminally poor for women, especially at the lower end of the range. Many women riders of my acquaintance have small hands and find it difficult to get much pressure on the brakes in the usual "on the hoods" pressing down and back, riding position. They also find it hard to swing all that heavy and cumbersome gubbins to the centre to change chain-rings but that is another story.
The best answer is Campagnolo - their skeleton brakes are the best in the business, but obviously the Italian stuff is much more expensive. Fitting Ultegra shoes improves things a bit, but the braking is still poor until the blocks have worn in a bit and settled to the rims.
Mrs A had cross-levers (as I know them) fitted to one of her bikes, which I think ended up being a mistake. They are ugly and heavy, and now the brakes are properly bedded in (with Ultegra shoes too) she doesn't use the extra levers.

 

[PaulSB]

I rode with these for a few months after an accident in which my right thumb was severely dislocated and the tendons damaged. I had difficulty both stretching my hand sufficiently and in pulling the lever.

They certainly work. My word of warning would be this. Once my hand healed I took them off. When braking under normal conditions I sometimes moved to grab levers which weren't there! When I had to brake instinctively my hands went to the middle of the bars not the hoods. It took sometime to get out of this habit.

If your wife moves to interrupters she may have difficulty in giving them up in the future.

 

[DRM]

View: https://youtu.be/-P-QynImMuo

This could be worth a watch as handlebars better suited to your wife's reach etc could help, GCN explain much better than I can

 

[Philhh]

My lady prefers campag it fits her hands better her mates all have cross top brakes !on their shimano (105) equipped machines she says shimano needs big hands and most women do not have them

 

[Apollonius]

My lady prefers campag it fits her hands better her mates all have cross top brakes !on their shimano (105) equipped machines she says shimano needs big hands and most women do not have them

My point exactly. Campagnolo is far better for a woman's small hands.

 

[rovers1875]

My better half had them fitted to her road bike when she first got it, Still has them on and would not take the off. She has now got used to using the main levers from either position but uses the interupters for 75% of her braking.
They were also fitted as standard on my Tricross and I really liked them.