Markmc

Have you considered throwing a shorter stem on her bike? She my not be feeling confident with the extra little reach needed in the drop position. I also highly recommend looking into the TR Omega brakes, I've installed these on about 20 different bikes and I think they may be the best rim brake currently on the market.

TenSpeedV2

Also from the very first post: "She still does not feel super-strong to grip the levers"

This leads me to believe that she needs to work on her hand strength. Reach means nothing if you don't have the power to use the brakes.

fietsbob

The leverage, mechanical advantage, is greater with short pull brake levers..

and the MA is greatest with long cable pull demanding V brakes, but..
there needs to be compromises.. lower MA on one end or the other..


Work, Fulcrum, Effort. relative distances on either side... [teeter totter or crowbar]


or fulcrum, work, effort . V brakes have the pivot on the end.. ..





...

bulldog1935

salmon pads don't wear out that fast - I ride each bike about 1500+ mi/year, and get 3-5 years from a set.
It would be a very smart change.
Adjusting cable tension tightly, if not already there, optimizes brake leverage. Campy specifies something really small like 2-3mm clearance.

it would mean a different bike, but V-brakes are the unequaled champ for maximum braking.

With the road levers, if it's a question of hand position, you could consider adding interruptor levers.
You have a much better grip on interruptors than on hoods.
This is my daughter's bike. Tektro girl levers with Tektro iterruptors.

gregf83 

Who would seriously consider doing a lifetime worth of hand exercises just to ride a bloody bike. I know I wouldn't. I'd buy the appropriate equipment to allow me to ride comfortably. You shouldn't need extraordinary hand strength to ride a bike.

TenSpeedV2

If someone doesn't have enough hand strength to engage a brake, it seems pretty clear to me that you would need to work on your hands. Brakes can only be adjusted so much, after that, it is left to the riders ability.

Cyclist0108

My wife has ridden bicycles for several decades. She now has arthritic hands, and they are small to begin with, so this is a major concern for us. Mountain bike hydraulic brake levers (like XT disc brakes) seem to be by far the easiest for her. We both bought our more recent bikes in large part around the braking capabilities (I have Ultegra hydraulics, and need XXL gloves and have no hand strength issues.)

Telling her to HTFU for some reason didn't work as well as one would hope.

Bike Gremlin

Caliper and levers mechanical advantage go hand in hand. Add too much mechanical advantage, and there will not be enough caliper travel to reach the rim when positioned a few mm away from it. Make too little advantage - you get loads of travel, firm feel but very low braking power. Explained it here in detail (with pics ):
Bicycle mechanical brakes - working principle - Cycle Gremlin

The advice for Salmon pads is a great one. They don't wear too fast (a bit faster, yes, but not twice as fast and definitely worth it), but have great stopping power both in the dry and in the wet. I'd go with those definitely.

Another thing I'd recommend (correct me if someone's already mentioned it): set the cables (and calipers) so that there's more free play. That is, more movement of the levers before the pads reach the rims. Instead of setting the brakes to start "grabbing" when the levers are moved 1/4, or 1/3 of their total travel, loosen the brake cable a bit so they grab when they are half way of their max travel (max travel being hitting the bars).

That will make it a lot easier to grab firmly with smaller, weaker hands. With Salmon pads the brakes should provide enough braking power even without setting them to start "catching" as soon as the lever is pulled 1/4 of the way. This is what I mean:



Detailed explanation of road bars setup is here:
Setting up road bike bars - Cycle Gremlin

(the brake setup is paragraph e) )

gregf83 

Working on hand strength is certainly one option. However you'd need to stay on a long-term program to keep your hand strength up. Hardly practical or desirable for most people.

The preferred alternative is to change to a braking system that requires less force. Several have suggested V-brakes which have higher mechanical advantage and require less force. A bike with disc brakes would be another option requiring significantly less braking force on the levers.

Another option would be dual-pivot brakes. Campy dual-pivot brakes have higher mechanical advantage than their single pivot versions. Not really sure how they compare to the OPs brakes.

cny-bikeman

The small reach certainly is important, as you have to remember that "mechanical advantage" means one can exert more pressure at the rim for a given hand pressure, but as with any lever system what you gain in force you give up in the distance over which the force is applied - so the lever has to move further. With the given constraints the easiest things to address in addition to better pads and full rim contact are:

• Minimize cable/housing friction - use a lightweight lubricant on the cable when inserting
• Minimum housing flex - minimum housing length without binding, 90 degree housing end cut, good quality ferrules.

djb

6 years ago I changed to Kool Stop Salmons from stock pads on a canti bike and immediately found a significant increase in braking power/reduction of needed hand pressure.
The front pair lasted a good 4 seasons (fronts wear faster than the rears for me) , and while I keep my rims and pads clean, am not a brake dragger, they still lasted a really good long time, much longer than I expected.

re the clean rim/pad thing--in my experience, this is a big factor in keeping your braking to its best possible condition and stop it slowly deteriorating over time-- after a wet ride, right away wipe the grit off the rims with a dry cloth, and do the pads while youre at it, it takes only a minute to do.

re interrupter cross levers, they work well and if she has any concerns about not being comfortable with only drop levers, they are nice to have and I don't really see a downside to them. They are handy in lots of situations when on the tops.

CliffordK

Those do look interesting. However, one gets better leverage with shorter reach.

So, some kind of a drop bolt might be preferable.
1 pair Vintage NOS Brake drop bolt chrome for Campagnolo Dia Compe gipiemme | eBay
Or dropped mounting bracket.
Home Made Drop Bolts

Unfortunately, I don't think anything exists "stock" for modern brakes.

It is possible that other brands of calipers would vary slightly with reach.

I have been very impressed with the braking ability of my 6800 brake callipers. I'm not sure how long of reach they have though. I suppose I could try to measure. But they are very grippy (with stock pads).

27" wheels would shorten the reach slightly, but might be an awkward solution, depending on whether it is a vintage frame.

TenSpeedV2

Maybe this should be moved to: Adaptive Cycling: Handcycles, Amputee Adaptation, Visual Impairment, and Other Needs - Bike Forums

alathIN

To address the debate: she has probably average hand strength for a woman, and much smaller than average hands with very short fingers and light bone structure.

The Rival STIs helped a lot, being adjustable, brought the levers within easy reach rather than "far stretchy reach."

I did wind up putting on the Kool Stop salmon pads.

I got a set of Tektro calipers on ebay that are in the Tektro scheme of things "short reach" but this was about 3mm longer than the Rival calipers and turned out to be just enough to make it work.

I went back and fussed with the brake cable housings, making sure the inner liner was finished off cleanly from cutting the housings. I usually clean these out with a drill bit that's just ever-so-slightly bigger than the ID, and use it like a chamfering tool. I found one that really needed this treatment. Also cut the little housing section at the back of the top tube just a bit shorter, as it had a bit more dramatic bend in it than it probably really needed.

The cables were what came with the Rival STIs, which I figured were probably good enough, but I did lubricate them with just a single molecule layer of Shimano clear green grease before putting it all back together.

I generally do adjust brakes so the pads are pretty close to the braking surface, but as someone suggested here I went a skosche closer this time even than I usually do.

Also tweaked the position of the brake hoods just a touch, and again as someone suggested here, got a shorter stem (as well as moving it up one spacer).

Net result: happy wife who can stop her bike on a dime

Thanks for all the suggestions here.

Camilo

Nice! For my wife, it was an 11-34 cassette and Deore rear derailleur on her road bike that did it.����

djb

Good to hear that all the various changes means your wife is happier and more comfortable, that's the main thing.
Don't forget to keep rims and pads clean after wet rides, and check once in a while for embedded stuff in the pads.

Happy riding.