Originally Posted by
lucille
I don't think my elbows stick out, but not sure. I think I would like to look at those female hoods, if I could find them.
You are right, practice did make it easier, but it's still not good enough. I couldn't ride that way on a road with cars zooming by a bunch days in a row. I can barely type this, my hands hurt so much.
You have v-brakes with the diacompe brake levers I assume. I've never set them up; but I know several experienced cyclists that are quite happy with them. If you are interested, I can get you in contact with a great wrench that set up his own Bike Friday with them. I recall that he once posted a set of hints over at the YAK. But I don't have that handy.
At the
Harris Cyclery, it appears that Cane Creek/Diacompe offers a "short reach" set of levers for smaller hands with the typical road caliper cable pull. Perhaps there is a model for short reach levers with the longer cable pull needed for v-brakes.
Of course, it might be the case that the reach is totally fine. You might just need to get stronger hands for braking from the hood position.