Suggestions on shortening an STI's reach

Does anyone have any suggestions on shortening an Ultegra STI’s reach?

I’ve heard of “shimming” it, like Shimano has now done with the 600 levers, and even Wylder supposedly once sold shims, but I can’t figure how to attach the shims.

I also saw something once on the Internet about using zip-lock ties, but also can’t figure how that works.

My girlfriend has small hands and is having problems with her brakes/shifters so I’m up for any suggestions.

the shimano lever that is sized down has a slick little wedge which sits in the lever and holds it kinda open. you could take a piece of leather or something similar, and glue it to the lever so that when it closes it does not do so all the way. or, another guy saw ours and thought he would try drilling thru the lever blade, tapping the hole, and putting in a bolt with a locknut which would go thru the lever and hit the base of the housing - similar to how mt bke levers do it. or, you could sell the old ones on ebay and buy the sized down ones. . . .they are nice. :slight_smile:

I’m not sure if this is exactly your problem, but my grandpa’s hands were a little too small to reach the breaks while riding on the drops of his 2300 Trek.

What he did is drill a hole in the bottom of each level (not exactly the bottom, but like half a CM above), and put in sort of a hook thing he made. It was pretty cool looking actually, but it added a couple of grams (not that that mattered to him).

If I had a host I’ll post a picture of what it looks like (or sort of).

Not really sure how is works but there is aupposed to be a women specific handlebar which is designed to limit the reach for STI’s its called the eva by 3T… don’t know much about seeing as I am not a woman I have not looked into it… good luck

that is a good point also, taku. my girl uses such a bar with her sized down 600/ultegra sti levers and they do sorta work, tho there is a tradeoff with the remainder of the bar’s hand positions - but the tradeoffs are worth it for the reach issue. the other thing, and one that i REALLY like is to use a set of cyclocross top mount brake levers. these things work extremely well, particularly for those with smaller hands and less time on bikes - in addition to cyclocrossers (!!!).

Any suggestions as to where I can find anything about the Eva bar? I’ve searched the 'net and TTT’s site, and I can’t find it anywhere.

hey dad. we are using the deda “wonderbar”. we got them from excelsports. dunno if they still carry them. terry has one, too, or possibly a couple.

here is the info from the ad I saw in cycle sports

970-282-1880 or
fco@vilimpex.com

also try this link to a inside tri article

http://www.insidetri.com/train/bike/articles/1358.0.html

good luck
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If you get yourself a half-round bastard file(i know but its what they call some files)you can CAREFULLY file where the lever housing meets the bar you can change the lever reach.to make the lever closer to the bar file on the bottom part of the housing to increase the reach file the top part of the housing,GO SLOW and check often,a little goes a long way,make sure not to remove to much because your lever might contact the bar keeping the brakes from being applied correctly. Hope this helps Randall

Forgot to say this file i talked about is roughly the same radius as a handlebar so it is easy to keep things square aligned so you do not mess up you levers,Randall
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