ganapati

I have a frame with a TT a bit too long for me. I tried to address the problem with an 80mm stem and short reach drops. Mistakenly, I paired all of this with brake levers which I realize now are for people with small hands (mine are not.) This setup is tolerable but on the hoods I cannot fit all 4 fingers. Should I be able to? I doubt my pinkies are important, but it feels a bit strange not having them wrapped around the hoods/bar.

Hopefully this is not too elementary a question for this forum. Thanks.

pat5319

go with what you are comfortable with or can adjust to.

Personally, very often I will brake with one or two fingers, ( I don't use aero bars)

blcknspo0ln

Agreed, I've never felt the need to break with more than one or 2 fingers.

WhyFi

I think that I might be more concerned with that shorty stem - how has it affected handling?

SlimRider

Someone else's opinion will have little affect upon your comfort level with your hand position/hood problem...

Take direct action and make any modification that you need to make in order to feel more comfortable.

vautrain

I don't quite understand without a pic, but brake levers can generally be positioned for more or less room under the levers. Unwrap your bars, and see if you can loosen them a bit and nudge them up the bars (closer to the tops) and give your fingers a bit more room. You shouldn't have to move them much.

LesterOfPuppets

Never had any hoods I could wrap all four fingers around. Much of the time I don't wrap any fingers around the hoods. Index and Mid finger on the lever, ring and pinky resting against the front of the drops.

Will occasionally wrap Index + Mid finger around hood for spirited climbing.

ganapati

I may just be insensitive, but I have not found the short stem to be too squirrily. That said, this isnt a road bike so I'm probably used to the instability simply as a factor of the sortof track-ishness of my frame. I look forward to figuring out fit and getting a frame that works. Long legs and a short torso but long arms is making it really hard to get this right.

Thanks to all who responded; my question has been answered.

ColinL

I ride a 90mm stem on my road bike and a 140mm stem on my MTB. People have openly criticized both. Not coincidentally, they give me identical reach to the center of the bars.

Maybe I'm an insensitive clod, but they seem to handle fine to me. The mechanical trail of the bike is what determines handling. Stem length has a much bigger effect on weight distribution than anything else.

Yo Spiff

That's how I grasp them as well. Then just move those two fingers to the front to brake or shift.

dstrong 

This is pretty close to how I position my hands when I'm on the hoods (not a picture of me).