Shifting for small hands and drop bars
 

Planning a bike for Ms. Grey, who claims 5' (in thick socks, maybe). She has been complaining that her hybrid is too heavy / slow (and it is, for anything but neighborhood pootling - unnecessary front suspension, upright posture, weighs a ton).

Her hands are 'to scale'. Seems like the only people who specifically make a small hands brifter are Microshift in their R9 line. Otherwise it'd be Tektro levers (341) and bar-ends. Any other small-hands-specific options for a drop-bar bike I might have missed in my searches?

I like Campy Athena but they provide shims for larger than average hands, not smaller...

not sure if these are still around.

Specialized Slim Shim Brake Lever Spacer | Evans Cycles

http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Adjust.../dp/B0127RP4ZE

Even with shims, Campy levers can be difficult for small hands. I built up my son's bike with an old set of 10-speed Chorus levers but he is not able to hit the thumb lever from the drops. This may not be an issue if she spends most of her time on the hoods but it's something to be aware of.

I've made a number of short female bikes for two wives and a bunch of friends as well as sold Terry for 15 years. Brake reach and shift lever throw have been frequent issues. I find that most liked the Shimano lever shape/size for general holding and using the brake blade. But for shifting, especially the front, STI can be a long throw. campy Ergo gets the vote here. However many of the bikes I've set up ended up with bar end shifters. A far easier leverage/hand strength (as the wrist can be used) movement and this also frees up the rake lever body having to be bulky to house a shifter.

As far as shims go I don't like them as a mechanic as my customers complain of brake pad rub more often. But if that's what it takes... Andy.

Shimano had wedges/shims for a little while...now that adjustable reach function (as I understand it) is built into the latest STIs. The throw of the front shifting is much, much better with the 11 speed (or 4700) stuff.

Not small hand specific but perhaps suitable, shifters mounted on Paul Thumbies Thumbies ? Paul Component Engineering
or Gevenalle brake-shifter assemblies Shifters Archives - Gevenalle
could be a solution.

I'm not a fan of Shimano STI levers for small hands because the brake lever pivot is so low. It's difficult for small hands to brake from the hoods because you've got to reach to squeeze low on the lever blade.

My '06 Campy levers seem like they'd be fine for small hands, except it might not be possible to reach the thumb button from the drops.

I built a road bike for my 11-year-old daughter, who coincidentally is almost the same height as your wife, and went with the exact Tektro RL341 & barcon setup you mentioned. Works great. I didn't select this setup just for her small hands, though... The bike's 35 years old and I had SunTour bar end shifters that mated up well with the bike's original SunTour derailleurs. With the shifting parts already picked out, the Tektro levers were the obvious choice.

theres a reason the women's peloton has a lot of SRAM in it....

I can see why campy could be hard to use for someone with short fingers, but its still better than the miles of throw on shimano. Of course, EPS/Di2/e-tap would make that a non issue, but then you have to plug your bike in.

Thank you for all the suggestions.

I admit that I hadn't even considered electronic, and honestly, probably won't go that route. The most likely frame is the Soma San Marcos because it's one of the few I can find where the geometry doesn't get really funky on the smallest frame sizes. Electronic shifting on a Petersen-designed frame would probably cause a tear in the space-time continuum.

Does Gevenalle help here? I've read some people complain that the long sweep of the shifters is actually more awkward with the Gevenalle than STI-style, though the motion for a single rear shift is smaller. If the RL340 and 341 blades were identical - which I don't think they are, though I can try to find out - it might be possible to splice together an RL341 body with Gevenalle Audax blades, since I believe they start out with an RL340.

Hadn't considered bar-tops (with thumbies), that's an interesting idea. Also did not know that the 11-speed Shimano stuff had reach adjustment and shorter throws.

Good to have some more options to consider, in any case.

Don't supposed anyone has a ride report specifically on the small version of the Microshifts?

I don't have experience with Microshifts, but am also interested in shifting options for small hands. (sooo, bumping this! Sorry to not be much help) I am the same height as your wife, and have used Shimano STIs for many years. The throw is easy to get used to, but I agree with SkyDog regarding the brake lever pivot. It is frankly kind of dangerous if you get into an emergency braking situation while on the hoods.

If I was building a new bike from scratch, I think your proposed setup sounds like a nice experiment. I may steal it. I also think downtube shifters would look great on the Soma, and your hand size doesn't really matter.

Yep. I've become resigned upgrading any new bike to SRAM if it's not already equipped with such.

Campy Ergolevers or Shimano STIs seldom work for folks with small hands, and we've given up trying to properly fit women with small hands of shorter stature onto bikes with drop bars and brifters. We just no longer do it. When a customer insists we direct them to look at custom geometry. Just not interested in fit outcomes where we don't feel we can properly make the customer comfortable on the bike.

Our favorite components to use, instead of drop/brifters in this situation, were Campagnolo Flat bar shifters, though the good stuff like Chorus with carbon fiber levers can be impossible to find in 10-speed anymore and I'm not sure Campy ever made FB shifters in 11 speed. Otherwise we like to fit using Bar-end shifters on something like a Nitto Albatross if the bike isn't for an aggressive road race build.

Most bikes have too long of a top-tube for many women anyway, and many cyclists who communicate they want a drop bar build really just want the aggressive "look" of a road drop bar setup, but actually don't like riding in those positions. When we actually schedule them for a fitting, and start working through different setups/positions using the Purely Custom Sizing stem and the Ergostem, it doesn't take long to realize most of them want to be in a more upright position, but to have the "look" of an aggressive road geometry. We usually don't charge for the fitting session in those instances, but recommend that they take a long hard look at what it is they really want from the build. Believe it or not a surprising number of cyclists will actually allow us to work with them on a more comfortable upright or flat bar build. Disappointingly, a good number of cyclists just go out and buy an aggressive road bike anyway and ask us to make it fit. Always fun to try to tell the customer that regardless of what they see on Venus de Miles, that they really don't want what the bike looks like to dictate how it feels to ride the bike. We actually started avoiding fittings and passing everything through to a female fitter, who had much better luck having that conversation with our women customers. She gets away with being more aggressive in the fitting, and insists that the customers position in the drops, and succeeds in quickly moving most of them away from a drop bar build. When we email her we pass the customers contact information on for a "Pivot fitting," to the point that the fitting will more than likely pivot the customer away from a road build with drop bars. Not surprisingly, our male customers with very small hands andy who are shorter in stature almost never allow us to fit them to a build that isn't a drop bar road race setup. Even when they can't actually actuate the shifters effectively from the hoods or brake safely, in our estimation. We've lost customers refusing to position them on those builds when they wanted interrupter cyclocross brake levers to brake with and the traditional Ergolevers/STIs for show, and shifting. Which is okay with us.

The joke around the shop is that we call those guys "orthodontists" even though I'm not sure all of them really are. They just see their Dentist or Orthodontist colleague friends have those bikes and want that type as well. Its more of a funny archetype, I don't know why we picked Orthodontists to pick on, when we could have probably called them any doctor's medical specialty, or just lawyers. :)

I can't imagine riding a flat bar bike, with one hand position, for more than a couple of hours at a time. Your customers may be calling you unpleasant names toward the end of a century....

It was a bike shop with an attitude like yours (silly, stupid female customer doesn't know what she's asking for) that drove me to learn how to wrench.

Amusing also, HS drop out bike shop groupies dissing medical professionals.....

Not a lot of people seem to be riding Microshift. I recently got a Centos derailleur and find the quality good. You may just have to try them. They could be the best way to go for small brifters, if you feel those are a must have. I use to be a pro mechanic but I'm a couple decades out of touch on currently available gear. IME bar end shifters and small brake levers (like those Tektros) were always a good way to go for smaller women that I've fitted, and I think they still are today. Being of the previous cycling generation, I simply don't see brifters as being necessary, but obviously the preferences of the person riding the bike are what counts most here.

More important IMO is to build light. You have to remember that a 28 lb bike to a 100lb woman is proportionally ridiculous, and the strength simply isn't needed. It's equivalent to asking a 180lb dude to ride a 50 lb bike. That SOMA I'm sure would be huge improvement over a hybrid, and I think 650B wheels are optimum. I might be inclined to go even lighter, to some sort of bonded aluminum frame or something. Not sure what available in 650b.

I have for a guy small hands. My next bike/group set gonna be Ultegra Di2. One, significant, reason for that is I find long throw to large chain ring of brifter just really annoying.

With 11-speed mechanical, Shimano has finally caught up with SRAM in offering true adjustable reach for its levers. And its new pivot placement is reported to make braking from the hoods easier. The pull has more "up" and less "back." Still, the hoods themselves are kind of long. Not having small hands, I'm not sure how that would play for your wife, but I believe it's worth looking into.

As for handlebars, every brand offers compact bends, and many offer super-compact WSD bends. The problem with using these is finding levers that can be adjusted close enough to reach from the drops.

I started using SRAM in 2012 and haven't looked back. If you can make one criticism, though, it's that the hoods are a little thick. I believe the 11-speed versions might alleviate this a bit, though.

Wife is 5'3" and rides Shimano 11-speed hydraulic. Reach is fully adjustable. If you bleed the brakes yourself to ensure no air you can run the lever very close to the bar. Since they are so powerful they work well with a small woman's hands too which tend to be a bit less strong than most.
Even better is DI2 with the haydraulic brakes. No lever sweep, fully adjustable reach and brake power from hell.
Perfect for small hands.

Kind of C&V.. Bar end shifters and the close reach Brake levers like Cane Creek-Dia Compe Made ..

There were Drop Bars with a small hands bend made too.

Anybody try the C/V-ish guidonnet option? Dia Compe makes a modern version.

http://www.benscycle.com/images/vari...ge/188-180.jpg

Combine it with bar end shifters and you've got quite the options for hand position without needing interrupters to interrupt the braking power of your aero brake levers.

My wife has three bikes, with slightly different setups and different brakes.

1) '12 Kona Jake with Sora 10s brifters, inline brake levers and canti brakes

2) '85 Specialized Allez SE with Dia Compe aero brakes, Origin8 inline brake levers and Superbe side lever brakes

3) '73 Gitane TdF with MAFAC guidonnet levers and MAFAC Racer center pull brakes.

She likes them all but gives a slight advantage to the Kona's setup. She is able to shift just fine with the Sora brifters. The other two bikes have DT friction shift levers, that may affect her preference. The Gitane is her most comfortable bike, but the old brakes and levers don't have quite the power as the modern inlines do. She's not sort, but has smallish hands with little strength. I would try any of those setups.

You don't have to fit drop bars to a fast, lightweight bike.

No, you don't have to, but they offer multiple hand positions. My wife uses them all on her drop bars. Admittedly, she only uses the drops in a stiff headwind, but the option is there. I would also advise against flat bars. Instead, be realistic about setting up drop bars and make sure they are positioned correctly - they don't have to be 3" below seat level on a 12cm stem.

If you look at long distance riders - think randonneurs - from the WW2 era, handlebars were level with seats, not slammed, and reach was comfortable, not extended like racers. Women regularly participated in brevetes and were comfortable. It was the bike boom era that introduced us to racing style bikes. Then things got out of control in the 80's with ultra narrow tires and even racier bikes that were not comfortable for the casual rider. Generally only low end bikes were made with relaxed geometries and comfortable riding positions. Unfortunately they were often built like tanks out of gas pipe with poor equipment. Don't get me wrong, I love my 80's bikes, but one mustn't feel like they can't be modified to be more comfortable.

OK, off my soap box.

Butterfly/ trekking figure 8 bend bars do too But they are often rather wide .

Randonneur bars are still made , Nitto JP is good.

then def no brifters as they will be far away due to bend shape of bars.

This tread got my attention, Lisa has similar issues (short with small hands). She's using the Shimano STI with shims and it's OK. Any updates on this project?

I just set up a bike with the Gevenalle, a drop-bar Pugsely. I like the shifters, but they are designed for CX. I don' think I'd like them for a road bike because you do not have access to the shifters from the hooks or drops. If I were to set up a road bike without integrated shifters, I'd go with the bar-end option.

Additionally, Lisa is shopping a new road bike this spring, and I like the electronic option (except it's price). The other thought, are there youth specific integrated shifters?

/rambling