# Shifters for tiny female hands?



## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

My novice rider(200 miles, total) girlfriend is 5'0" and has tiny hands. Her fingers are too small and slender to operate a modern STI brake/shifter combo effectively, from the drops or hoods. Luckily, her size XS, 2008 Giant OCR3 has those secondary brake levers at the center of her bars. However, she is still afraid to use her Shimano Sora shifters, fearing she will lose control of the bike, as she still not comfortable with the spin cycle rider position(her seatpost is still at the LOWEST SETTING! What should I do? Should I suggest a flat bar and trigger shifter setup....or, should I just wait until she gains more riding confidence?


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

I have tiny hands too, so I found that I had to keep my hands resting on the hoods and shifted from the top until I was comfortable enough with the drops so that I could move my hands when I needed to shift. The first couple of times I rode my bike, I would go for practice rides up and down my street getting used to shifting before I took it out on the highway.


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## reptilezs (Aug 21, 2007)

adjust the reach


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Zachariah said:


> Should I suggest a flat bar and trigger shifter setup....or, should I just wait until she gains more riding confidence?


If she will never shift gears with brake shifters, seems to me the flat bar with trigger shifters is the obvious solution. When you think about it, many people ride around with a drop bar purely as a fashion accessory. The never use the drops, so they might as well be on flat bars. Keep the brake shifters just in case she wants to take another run at them after a few months of riding around.


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

reptilezs said:


> adjust the reach


Reach is already adjusted - but I'm thinking it can be made more. I switched her to a 60mm hi-rise stem - but she still feels she is not getting enough power/leverage to grab the "brifter" levers enough to stop in time. Should I point the hoods higher up more towards her....bottom of the lever aimed forward - like on my old Schwinn Varsity 10-speed?


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Zachariah said:


> Reach is already adjusted - but I'm thinking it can be made more.....she still feels she is not getting enough power/leverage to grab the "brifter" levers enough to stop in time.


If it's a braking issue only and you think you can bring in the levers some more, go ahead and try that. Since she feels that she can't get enough braking power, also consider that the brakes might be coming on too early for her, with the pads contacting the rim before she can get the lever close-in enough to curl her fingers around them. The cure for that is to back the pads away from the rim so there is some free play in the levers. That way, she can pull the levers closer in with very little resistance, then apply the brakes with her fingers curled around the levers.

Unfortunately, those secondary levers often make it difficult to adjust the brake shifters for small hands. They can add mushiness, sometimes forcing you to adjust the pads much too close to the rim for the free-play-for-small-hands trick to work.


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## davegregoire (Apr 9, 2012)

I spoke with the people at Microshift when I was at interbike this year and they have a womens spicific brifters set. You can probably find it on their website. I had to ask when since my wife is in the same boat. Started with a 48 and Sora and both were too big. Moved to a 45cm with 2300 and it works better. It has the downshift at the thumb like Campagnolo. She likes it better.


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## matfam (Jul 13, 2012)

According to cxwrench "Brifter" is a lame word. I LOL at myself every time I see or think of "brifter" now


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

Try some 5700-series 105 levers. I'm not sure how far it's trickled-down yet, but at least the 7900, 6700 and 5700 series levers were designed with smaller hands in mind. Not only are they reach-adjustable, but all the dimensions are smaller. So much so, that my mitts don't fit them any more. My fingertips don't even fit on the shift paddle.

I tried 5700s to get get the shift cables out of the way of the headlights on my main commuting bike. I just couldn't get comfortable with them because they're too small. I reverted to my time-tested 5600s and deal with the shadows instead.

Not surprisingly, I have a set of 5703s (the triple version) available, in silver. Only 1500 miles on them. One scratch on the right lever.

But if it's only braking that's a problem, try Wim's idea first.


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## Oasisbill (Jan 15, 2011)

wim said:


> If she will never shift gears with brake shifters, seems to me the flat bar with trigger shifters is the obvious solution. When you think about it, many people ride around with a drop bar purely as a fashion accessory. The never use the drops, so they might as well be on flat bars. Keep the brake shifters just in case she wants to take another run at them after a few months of riding around.


With the exception that your wrists are 90˚ to the ground on a drop bar on the hoods, and parallel to the ground on a flat bar. I always get sore wrists on a flat bar, and bar ends put my hands too far apart...


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

matfam said:


> According to cxwrench "Brifter" is a lame word. I LOL at myself every time I see or think of "brifter" now


good to hear!:thumbsup:

and for the OP...as long as it's 'in budget', you could always try Di2. w/ the right bars, the brake levers (as w/ normal shimano) can be really close to the bars, and the shifters don't require more than 1-2mm of movement.


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## Peter P. (Dec 30, 2006)

Shimano Sora shifters have available 2 different shims to adjust the reach of the brake lever. If you don't already have them, your local bike shop can get them for you.

See the tech doc HERE. Refer to ST-3400 Reach Adjustment.

Specialized used to market a similar shim that adhered in the same location with an adhesive backing. You could try a Specialized dealer.


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## tuffguy1500 (Jul 17, 2008)

Go with Sram if the budget is there. the shift levers can be "pulled" towards the bars and then shifted so they make it easier for smaller hands. The newer Sram stuff has adjustable reach built in too. Here's a video of Sram Red, but all levers operate on the same pivot so it can be pulled towards tbe bar prior to a shift.

SRAM Red Double Tap shifters at twohubs.com - YouTube

Edit to add: Skip to 1:28 for the adjustment/visual demo of the lever moving.


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## Wingard64 (Oct 29, 2012)

adjust the reach


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## JoelS (Aug 25, 2008)

My wife has small hands too. She's been pretty happy with Di2 Ultegra.


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## Al1943 (Jun 23, 2003)

Campy Ergo shifters/brakes fit small hands better than Shimano's. But that would be the beginning of a fairly expensive conversion.


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

I'd LOVE to go with Di2...but her skills on the bike simply does not warrant such fine parts, at the moment.


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## red elvis (Sep 9, 2010)

...or maybe you just can't afford it.


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## red elvis (Sep 9, 2010)

just kidding.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Yeah. I was gonna say, arguably Di2 requires less skill or technique to operate and would improve any bike no matter how meager.


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## Sierra36 (Sep 21, 2012)

*Sora Shims*



Peter P. said:


> Shimano Sora shifters have available 2 different shims to adjust the reach of the brake lever. If you don't already have them, your local bike shop can get them for you.


+1

My wife had the same problem with reach (Sora levers), and I used the 8 degree shims to reduce the leverage needed to pull the brakes. She was a lot more comfortable with the set-up, and didn't complain about straining to reach the levers.


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## T0mi (Mar 2, 2011)

I'd suggest using barend shifters or downtube ones. As the OP said, she is novice. She won't loose a competitive advantage by choosing downtube or barend shifters. The ideal would be to use di2 with satellite shifters.


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## c_h_i_n_a_m_a_n (Mar 3, 2012)

What kind of bars is your misses using now? Have you considered a different bar that will shorten the reach? FSA Compact?

If she is not comfortable in the drops, maybe you could consider another option. I have seen riders using bull horn bars using STI shifters? Because the shifter is installed along a flat part of the bar, close to end of the tips of the 'bull horn', the lever is actually very close to the bar.


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## mrcleans (Oct 22, 2012)

Shimano made shifter/brake levers specifically for smaller hands. My wife's bike came with them!! Try Shimano R700.. You can find them used or old stock on ebay for a lot cheaper than new 105 and ultegras.


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

c_h_i_n_a_m_a_n said:


> What kind of bars is your misses using now? Have you considered a different bar that will shorten the reach? FSA Compact?
> 
> If she is not comfortable in the drops, maybe you could consider another option. I have seen riders using bull horn bars using STI shifters? Because the shifter is installed along a flat part of the bar, close to end of the tips of the 'bull horn', the lever is actually very close to the bar.


That is a good suggestion. I have a 40cm compact bar for her. I'll try that...


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