Adjusting Brifters
 

New to road bikes, but I know my way around an allen wrench.:)

My shifters were installed a little low on the drops and it's a little uncomfortable to ride compared to other setups i've ridden.

before I take the grip tape off and start taking things apart, would you recommend otherwise and have me take it to the LBS where I bought it?

I wouldn't mind learning to do it on my own, but don't want to screw anything up.

Nah, you can't mess anything up, it's easy. If you are just going to move them a little bit, you might not even need to undo the bar tape. Give it a try and see. Also, you can always just rotate the entire bar up a bit, but of course that will change the position of your hands in the drops too.

You can either:

1. rotate the bars up
2. remove bartape and move STIs.

To move the actual STIs, pull back the rubber hood from the front of the lever. On the outside edge of each STI, you'll find a hex bolt. Loosen this, slide the STIs to whatever position you wish and then re-tighten.

Anything you screw up you can take to the LBS to fix so I would say give it a try. Taking tape off down past the shifter( you do not have to go past that) and moving the shifter is not a big job.
1. Remove tape past the shifter on both sides.
2. There should be a few pieces of tape that you will have to remove that hold the brake cable to the handlebar so you can move the shifter.
3. Standing in front of the bike looking back on the outside of the shifter(if Shimano) will be a place to loosen the shifter. Should be a 5mm hex. It is under the rubber piece that covers the most of the shifter.
Loosen and move up or down to your liking.
4. Tighten shift lever.
5. re tape the brake cable
6. put the tape back
7. Pat on back for saving 10-15 dollars
8. Ride

Kenal0

wow... that was quick!!!
Thanks for the help. Can't wait to try it out.

...and don't call them br•fters (i can't even type the word!)

Haha. I happen to like that term. I've never actually heard anyone use it in real life though.

Yeah, good instructions. It's not too hard once you see how things are setup. The trickiest part for me is keeping the rubber hood from snapping back.

Technically, you don't even need to pull the hoods back; if you have a long enough hex key, you can just wedge it under the rubber.