i have a set of 6510 (ultegra 9 speed) brifters. no matter how tightly i adjust the brakes, there is always a significant amount of travel required to put down significant braking force.

now, i know that would normally be improper housing/cable installation. but there's no play in the levers. they are always doing their job, just not as well as they should. cable friction doesn't seem to be a problem either. it's not difficult to pull the levers. i reinstalled the cables and there wasn't any debris.

so, is there any way to increase leverage in these brifters? could i fiddle with brake pad washers or something? i found the shimano installation manual and couldn't find any adjustment possible. i don't think there's with them internally, but they are on the older side.

any ideas on how to improve this would be great. and yes, i've compared them to other modern brifters/had other people test them out. they agree that they should be better.