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Slowtwitch Forums: The Womens:
Best road levers for small hands

pedalincoastal

Feb 13, 09 13:53

Post #1 of 8 (422 views)

Best road levers for small hands	Can't Post

Hello,

I need to buy a road group for a women with very small hands. Can anyone suggest a group?

Thank you,

B

JenHS

Feb 13, 09 14:02

Post #2 of 8 (420 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [pedalincoastal] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I went Campy on my current bike and it is much easier to control the shifting. You can also get shims for some break levers that bring them closer to the handlebars she doesn't have to reach as far. Also adjust them so that she doesn't have to hang on with her fingertips to engage the brakes. That means they are "looser" than most people would do but she really needs the full strengh of her fingers to brake hard. I used to cramp on long steep downhills because I was barely holding on with my fingertips. I got them adjusted so I could sqeeze with my full fingers and I felt much safer.

EDIT: My Campy group is Centaur and from 2007. Mid-range priced.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
kthxbai,
Jen - Twitter | The Boss | 2010: Some long runs| "JenHS is smart. ;)" - gamebofh | "JenHS is pretty popular so we need to keep her happy." - eganski | Brooks I.D.

(This post was edited by JenHS on Feb 14, 09 9:55)

Khai

Feb 13, 09 22:59

Post #3 of 8 (393 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [pedalincoastal] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Pre 2009 (not 11 spd) Campy is great for those with smaller hands.

Shimano also makes small STI levers for kids and women, but they can be hard to source...

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steveandbarb1

Feb 14, 09 5:59

Post #4 of 8 (382 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [Khai] [In reply to]	Can't Post

They are the Shimano R700 lever, 189 on ebay

csb

Feb 14, 09 6:38

Post #5 of 8 (378 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [pedalincoastal] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Ditto on the Shimano small hand shifters. I tried SRAM and wasn't happy with the shifter size, so I went back to the Shimano shifters. I've been told they're 105-level quality, which I believe, but they work fine. I've also heard that the new Shimano DA (7800) has a reach-adjustment mechanism, but I haven't seen it in person.

cerveloguy

Feb 14, 09 19:35

Post #6 of 8 (357 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [pedalincoastal] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Also consider getting a small hands specific road bar. My wife swapped to one and still kept her regular DA STI but the smaller bar curve made all the difference. I think she got a Deda bar, designed for small hands, but there are several on the market.

pedalincoastal

Feb 14, 09 20:59

Post #7 of 8 (350 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [csb] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks for the responses....

Were thses SRAM levers the newer ones with the reach adjustment. Also, the frame builder sourced a bar, can't remember the brand but he's on top of this.

Cheers.

Pedalincoastal

csb

Feb 15, 09 4:07

Post #8 of 8 (341 views)

Re: Best road levers for small hands [pedalincoastal] [In reply to]	Can't Post

No, these were last year's Rivals. I was really stretching with them (more so than with regular Shimano shifters), so I decided not to swap them out for Red or Force. (Plus, I wasn't in love with SRAM anyway.)