Aquamarine

Hello there,

I am struggling to reach the brake levers on my 80s vintage bike and wondering whether there are brake levers for small hands from around that time. Currently my brake levers are Campagnolo G.S. and the handlebar is ITM Italmanubri quite standard one.

I love the look of those vintage non-aero style and I'd like to stick to it, so aero levers like Tektro R100 and Shimano 105 short reach are not my choice...

Or, do you think there's a safe way to create some sort of wedge to stop the levers go back fully? I have no problem pulling the brake once my fingers catch the lever. I just need the levers to stay a little bit close to the drop...

Thanks for you help, in advance!

puchfinnland

I have tried what you imply-bet to use a new poprivet with the shaft removed-your wheels must be dead straight to get the lever pull as minimum as possible.

I also have a set of campagnolo levers in the shop to be modified into childrens levers- it will happen soon

this was a great solution

read this:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s+brake+levers

short reach levers do exist-

dia comp junior
https://capitaldealsonline.com/store/...smaller-hands/



CLB made several different junior size levers-in my opinion the best




shimano slx 105 short reach


(im a smartass on this topic!)
this thread is for junior roadbikes and brake lever reach is a real issue with childrens hands
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nior-roadbikes

eschlwc

most people think the use of aero levers are a more comfortable option as compared to non-aero. and short reach aero levers can be easily found online. what you lose is extra cable/housing flopping around. what you gain is a sleek cockpit. but if you're trying to keep it original with non-aero levers, you might find the reach issue more difficult to solve. some use suicide levers to deal with this.

a girl recently wanted me to do a quick overhaul of her little nishiki. she has little hands, though i don't know if they're smaller than average. she had two additional top bar levers installed in the cable path on her drop bars in addition to the aero levers. she's a friend, so i gave her a little bit of a hard time about it. she agreed and wanted them off. so i retaped her bars, removed the additional top bar levers, moved the aero levers up so she could ride on the hoods, and it was looking sweet. i wrapped it up and got her on her way...

trouble was, she now couldn't reach the levers with her small hands on the drops. i had to retape the bars and move the levers down, preventing her from riding on the hoods, but allowing her to stop and avoid killing herself. in setting up the cockpit, i was more concerned with 'normal' and aesthetics, not her comfort and her little hands. it cost us both. live and learn.

Aquamarine

Hi punchifinnland,
Thanks for your resources!!! Really helpful. Your hand made drilled levers are nice I think. Will look forward to your report about the modified campagnolo pair.
As I don't think I can do similar work by myself, I may order these dia comp junior or start googling CLB levers... CLB ones look more elegant?
But ideally if I could modify my campag levers, that would be the best...
Thanks, I will keep an eye on your report!!

Aquamarine

Yeah that could be a problem too... I prefer to reach on the drops as my bike is a proper racer, but then it will make the bike not suitable for city riding.

puchfinnland

I ask you
is this bike something of a keeper?
If you want me to modify a set of campy levers for you I will be happy to do it.
maybe you should pick up a set of diacompe juniors now and we deal with your campagnolo levers without pressure for time-OK?
the diacompe juniors are very easy to sell off afterwards-heck i may but them off you.
are your campagnolo's perfect? I prefer to do this on a set with roadrash as I can polish out the scratches.
the plastic/metal clbs are very difficult to find, I have 2 sets and they are spoken for. I wish I had a third set.

keep eyes open on ebay.fr-

Aquamarine

Thank you! I may ask you. Let me twiddle with this pair, I have ordered a narrower handlebar so I will try with this campag pair first (being narrow won't help with reach but it has different shape so I need to see how it goes).
And yes the bike is rather good one, nothing special but I love it.

puchfinnland

is this bike too big for you?

what is your actual size and bike size?

Aquamarine

The bike is 48cm (seat tube c-c) and I am 155cm tall, so it's not perfect but I find it quite fine.
650c bike would suit me better, but I love those classic racer so I don't have a choice...

puchfinnland

https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/p/22705/...-brake-levers/

they are aero- but new and readily available..

I think I agree
my daughter is 144ish and is riding a 24" junior
160mm and 150mm cranks (2 different bikes)

at 155 It would be cool to find a vintage high end 26"

I predict you are also thin and light?
do you have any issues with the crank lengths?
there were these childrens bikes with a 24" front and 700 in the back

like this