WTB: Women's or teen's handlebars/brake levers?

My wife's having a hard time with her small hands and the distance of
the brake levers from the handlebars on her racing bike. I've heard
of a "women's handlebar" that is shaped to reduce this distance. Does
anyone have this or know where I could get it? Alternatively, is
there a racing brake lever with a shorter reach?

Doug Schwartz wrote:
My wife's having a hard time with her small hands and the distance of
the brake levers from the handlebars on her racing bike. I've heard of a
"women's handlebar" that is shaped to reduce this distance. Does anyone
have this or know where I could get it? Alternatively, is there a racing
brake lever with a shorter reach?


The Deda 4girls is a short reach bar for women - as the name implies

I vaguely recall the Salsa catalogue mentioning a super short reach ba
for small hands also

Campag levers are shorter reach than Shiman


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I've had the same problem, but my new Cannondale (2003 r2000 feminine) has a
good set up. I've got TTT Morphe 38cm bars with Shimano ST-R600 levers with
adjustable reach.

I can't find any info on the shifters on the shimano website, but I'm pretty
sure they are part of the Ultegra family, or atleast Ultegra-level. They
include removeable shims that allow you to adjust the reach.
In my experience, they have been smooth, responsive and accurate.
Comfortable from the hoods or the drops.

I think the TTTs are a little low brow, but they are comfortable to me, so
hey -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Also, Salsa makes a bar called Poco with widths ranging from 36-44 cm. It
got great reviews and an Editor's Choice Award on roadbikereview:
http://www.roadbikereview.com/Handle...x.aspx#reviews

Google the product names and you'll come up with plenty of options for
buying online.

jen

"Doug Schwartz" wrote in message
om...
My wife's having a hard time with her small hands and the distance of
the brake levers from the handlebars on her racing bike. I've heard
of a "women's handlebar" that is shaped to reduce this distance. Does
anyone have this or know where I could get it? Alternatively, is
there a racing brake lever with a shorter reach?

It sounds like Doug wants to reduce the distance from handlebar to
brake lever, but the "reach" dimension of a handlebar has nothing to
do with that. Short reach bars will pull the brake lever + drop
section of the bar both closer to the rider, while leaving the brake
levers just as (unreachably) far from the bar. I have pretty small
hands, so I've also looked at the options to address this problem.

I think the bar Doug is referring to may be the Terry T-Bar, which
puts a small dent in the back of the hook section of the drop to
nestle your thumb in. This moves your hand forward toward the brake
lever just a bit, but maybe enough to be helpful? These bars only
come in small widths though. I think 40 cm was the max width when I
looked at them. Another solution is to get short reach *brake levers*
(or the newish short reach STI brifters, if you prefer the all-in-one
approach). I believe both Dia-Compe and Shimano currently make short
reach brake levers. Just the ticket for us small handed folks...

Cheers,

-Jack

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Crunchyfrogs wrote in message ...
Doug Schwartz wrote:
My wife's having a hard time with her small hands and the distance of
the brake levers from the handlebars on her racing bike. I've heard of a
"women's handlebar" that is shaped to reduce this distance. Does anyone
have this or know where I could get it? Alternatively, is there a racing
brake lever with a shorter reach?



The Deda 4girls is a short reach bar for women - as the name implies.

I vaguely recall the Salsa catalogue mentioning a super short reach bar
for small hands also.

Campag levers are shorter reach than Shimano



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