Mrssheldona had her first ride out on her new CX bike last night however the brakes were quite hard for her to use as she has small hands. Shes got some Shimano 105s with Avid (iirc) calipers. Can we get some tackyer pads so she doesn’t have to pull the lever so hard or can we get smaller levers? What do the CX experts do?

I don’t really want to see her shoot off down a hill out of control not being able to stop and over runing a turn by 100s of meters as my sides can’t take any more laughing*!!

*Well until I found out why she did it and it wasn’t for the comedy factor!

Is it not just a case of being too used to disks and needing to relearn how much force is required?

sheldon you can get little thingys (tech term 😉 to shorten the reach on the sti levers for little hands mate that should help . i know some you can adjust but some have the little spacers in , not sure which but someone will know. that should help matters

2 words – Campagnolo Ergopower
Much better for small hands.

might be worth looking at the bars as well, what ones are on there ATM?
some “Ergo” bars are exactly the opposite for those with wee paws as they put your hands further away from the levers

Might be teaching you to suck eggs, but make sure the canti’s are setup well too – you know, straight as you can cable runs, straddle wire as near to 90 degree bend as you can when the blocks are contacting the rim, good cartridge blocks etc etc. This should mean you don’t have to haul on them like crazy to get decent braking effort.

no CX expert but having cross levers up on the flat bit gives some adjustment on the fly – though increases the temptation not to use the drops

You need Specialized Slim shims:
Slim Shim

she has small hands

Good job, eh? 🙂

Seriously though, as others have said take some time with the bar and hood set-up, I was having a nightmare but with a little patience and trial and error it’s all coming good.

Plus, it’s always the first ride where you remember how good discs are…

Plus, it’s always the first ride where you remember how good discs are…

I found they made no difference on hard narrow tyres, as there is so little grip.

I think he means that you remember how good they are on your mountain bike compared to the cantis on the cross bike.

Those spesh slim shims look just the same as the standadrd shimano spacers that come with the levers/bike. If they didn’t come with the bike, ask the shop to give you them.

I agree about set-up, bar shape etc.

What takes a bit of getting used to is descending on the drops. It’s a bit scary at first, but it puts your hands in a much better position for braking than trying to descend on the hoods, which initially feels better because you’re more upright.

Cheers for the pointers, its more of a case that she can’t reach the brakes rather than the fact the brakes are crap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Shimano-ST-R700-Shifters-10-Speed-STI-Short-Reach-db-tr_W0QQitemZ130286039528QQihZ003QQcategoryZ36140QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122

Just spoken with the shop and they have the spacers on their work bench, we’ll give that a go first!

Ta

You can get shimano short reach STI’s. Apparently. I think they are as rare as rocing horse poo from the enquiries we made for Mrs Mugsy.

Sheldon – there should be two pairs of spacers: one thin; one thick.

OK GF Cheers

Join the club. I cannot get a position where I can sit comfortably on the tops using the shifter and also use the brakes on the drops. Use Ergos but it’s still too much. Best bars I have tried are old Cinelli 65’s. to my mind many new style bars add to the problem. They seem to make the brakinging part of the lever sit further away or right on the bend when your hand is on the flat of the drop. Bars need a “dent” where levers sit not a bulge.

It’s funny, I very rarely brake ‘on the drops’ when I’m ridign my road bike (and it is a bit of a reach to do it) just fromt he hoods but I got a Tricross SS and find myself doign it all the time off road.

I’d convinced myself that it was ‘cos I always mince when I’m off road whereas I tend to be a bit more confident on tarmac so don’t brake as much.

So do most of you brake whilst in the drops on whilst you are on the hoods?

I tend to ride everywhere on the hoods but I have no trouble braking other than canti’s are shite :-0

I brake while on the hoods if I’m just scrubbing a little bit of speed, but for steep, fast, long or difficult descents, I ride on the drops.

Same goes for the road bike actually, I almost always descend in the drops. It seems to put more weight over the front wheel too, for better grip.

I brake while on the hoods if I’m just scrubbing a little bit of speed, but for steep, fast, long or difficult descents, I ride on the drops.

Yup.

If you get them spacers, I may be interested in any you don’t use

of course, when a slight slope suddenly turns into something steep and rough, getting from the hoods to the drops, while the bars are leaping all over the place, is a scary manoevre.