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Date: 20 Jul 2007 15:56:30
From: Michigan John
Subject: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
questions:

Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
easier? Any other way to approach this problem?

Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?

Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...








 
Date: 21 Jul 2007 12:00:02
From: Qui si parla Campagnolo
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
On Jul 21, 5:27 am, richard <rmccl...@insight.bb.com > wrote:
> Perhaps Peter can give advise on shimming...
>
> There are lots of small-hands-specific bars out there, including Deda,
> 3TTT, etc. A visit to a shop is probably in order...
>
> Michigan John wrote:
> > I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> > questions:
>
> > Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> > easier? Any other way to approach this problem?
>
> > Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?
>
> > Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...

No way to shim Campagnolo and the shimano ones use a rubber thing that
does bring ther lever closer to the hbar but also reduces the travel
of the lever when braking. I agree that Salsa hbars or Ritchey
nonanatomic may suit her better.



 
Date: 21 Jul 2007 06:27:02
From: richard
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
Perhaps Peter can give advise on shimming...

There are lots of small-hands-specific bars out there, including Deda,
3TTT, etc. A visit to a shop is probably in order...

Michigan John wrote:
> I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> questions:
>
> Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> easier? Any other way to approach this problem?
>
> Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?
>
> Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...
>
>
>
>


 
Date: 20 Jul 2007 16:00:22
From: Nate Knutson
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
On Jul 20, 8:56 am, "Michigan John" <michiganj...@worldnet.att.net >
wrote:
> I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> questions:
>
> Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> easier? Any other way to approach this problem?
>
> Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?
>
> Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...

Another approach is that their are Ultegra-ish level STI's available
in both 9s and 10s which are shorter reach. The 10s is ST-R700 and 9s
is ST-R600; both are pretty easily available but rather far under the
radar. I'm not sure how they actually compare in terms of reach to
Ergo or anything else. They both work with triples. Presuming the bike
is currently all Campy, you could use either a Jtek Shiftmate #3 and
the existing RD or perhaps just some alternate cable anchor chicanery
to make it work.

There's a Kalloy bar similar to the Poco called the HB-300. It is
cheap, presumably kinda heavy, and has no grooves. I've only seen it
in the QBP catalog, but they've currently got it. There's also a high-
end al 3T 'women's specific' bar called the EVA which has some
interesting stuff going on. It's got somewhat flatted bends on the
drops to get easier brake reach. (women's specific is in quotes up
there because it's a misnomer - this stuff is for people with small
hands and their sex/gender shouldn't be the big factor in what bar
they get pointed to).



 
Date: 20 Jul 2007 15:54:35
From: thejen12
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
On Jul 20, 8:56 am, "Michigan John" <michiganj...@worldnet.att.net >
wrote:
> I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> questions:
>
> Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> easier? Any other way to approach this problem?
>
> Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?
>
> Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...

I have Salsa Poco bars in a 36cm width to sell, very lightly used, $35
shipped, if you're interested. (No bar tape residue on them,
either.) The bars are black, not silver.

Jenn



 
Date: 20 Jul 2007 11:45:51
From: Wayne
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
On Jul 20, 10:56 am, "Michigan John" <michiganj...@worldnet.att.net >
wrote:
> I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> questions:
>
> Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> easier? Any other way to approach this problem?
>
> Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?
>
> Ooops. That's 3 questions. No matter...

I don't know how to shim the brake lever but look at Salsa's Poco
handlebars. They are smaller than any other bars and reduce the reach
to the brakes and drops. They are even smaller than Salsa's "Short &
Shallow" bar.





 
Date: 20 Jul 2007 18:56:21
From: Lou Holtman
Subject: Re: Bars & ergo for a Lady's hands
Michigan John wrote:
> I have a lady friend who rides Centaur Ergo, but has trouble 'reaching.' Two
> questions:
>
> Can the Ergo levers be shimmed to reduce their travel so she can brake
> easier?

As far as I know no.

Any other way to approach this problem?

Tilting the handlebars forward may help or moving the Ergos.
>
> Are there other bars like Salsa's Poco that might fit her better?

The shape of the handlebars can make a big difference. Notorious are the
ergo handlebars with a straight part in the drops. I like the Ritchey
WCS classic bars.

Lou
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