General Cycling Discussion - Handlebar questions

This might seem like a silly question but here goes anyway. Where should the brake levers/hoods/ be positioned on the handlebar of a road bike? I think they may be positioned a little low on my bike. Can this affect fit/comfort?

That's a good question....anyone? Is there a rule of thumb?

Can someone post a pic to illustrate?

The rule of thumb I used to use was to have the top of the brake hood even with the top of the bar. We set this by putting a ruler on top of the bar and then adjusting the brake lever until it touched it.

Lately I've seen brake levers mounted much higher. Take a look at some of the bikes on velonews.com and you can get an idea of what folks are currently using.

Zack

The "correct" position depends on your personal geometry and preferred riding style. When I ride with my hands atop the lever hoods, I like to have my wrists reasonably straight. Raising the levers can make this position more comfortable, but for those of us with small hands, it can also make the lever reach too long when the hands are down on the drops. Try riding with a club and watching the more experienced cyclists.

Zacks use of the ruler is the old true and tried way. The newer way of raising the brakes higher would make it more difficult to reach the levers from the drop quickly. I took a look at my copy of VeloNews Buyers guide and found only about 2 road bikes that appeared higher than the old ruler rule. Some look higher due to the larger hood bump at the top, but if you eye ball the top flat area of the hood you will find they are level. And the old rule of thumb was established in the non-aero hood days where that bump was less noticable.

Take a look where Lances' are!!

I was always told that if your needed to get on the brakes you should get out of the drops anyway.

So Lance was checking out Jan's brake lever placement. That's what "the look" was all about! ;) :D

http://www.velonews.com/images/report/3787.4228.f.jpg
here's another view of two different styles.
Tmobile's hoods are pretty straight and Postal's are way up BUT notice that both bars are parallel to the ground and it's the hoods position that is different.
T

Thanks for all the help everyone, I think I'm gonna try the ruler trick.

I like the higher placement. I position the levers so the top of the hoods extend from the downward slope of the bar so as to create a continuous curve that fits my hands, so when riding on the hoods they form a comfortable place to rest my hands.

Variables: the shape of the curve of your particular bars; the size of your hands. Hand size also, obviously, is a factor in how far you can allow the brake lever to get from the front of the bar. It's hard to brake from the drops if you can's reach the levers.

RichC

Is that a tough adjustment to make on your own? Being new to the road scene and all I can see myself screwing it up royally and then paying out the back side to get something fixed.

Nope..worst thing you can do is bugger up yor bartape......whiich gives you an excuse to go buy that really great color that you saw at the LBS

Originally posted by flybikeman
Is that a tough adjustment to make on your own? Being new to the road scene and all I can see myself screwing it up royally and then paying out the back side to get something fixed.

Basically you just have to unwrap the tape, loosen the allen bolt, move the lever, tighten, re-wrap. The only potential problem is if your cables are already so short there's no slack to move the levers, but that would be extreme.

RichC

the position of my sti lever is in a 40 degrees angle I am not an expert on the degrees angle but I think it is in the middle of the 0 degrees and 90 degrees, this way my hand is pointing downward

All of the directions that I've read in the past few years recommend lining up the tip of the brake lever with the bottom part of the handlebar. Line up a straight edge with the end of the handlebar. Now adjust the brake lever so that the tip of the lever just touches the ruler.

The height of the brake levers will also be affected by the angle of the handlebar in the stem clamp. When I started riding bicycles, the common advice was to point the end of the handlebar toward the rear axle. Today, most shops set up road bikes with the bottom portion of the handlebar parallel to the ground. On my personal bikes, I kind of split the difference between those two ideas.