linberl

I've got a '97 Trek 720 mt, ladies model. The brake levers are really long for my hands; I have tiny hands even for a woman. To get my fingers to pull the levers near the end (which I understand is the better location), I have to move them very far to the center. I can do this, however, when I pull them the levers rotate so I am above the handlebar, not pulling into it. If I drop the angle of the levers to fix this, the reach is too far. Am I stuck getting new levers or is there some trick I don't know? In case it matters, the bike has gripshifts both sides. If I do need new levers, are there some recommended that would be easy to swap out? I'm a bit mechanically minded but not experienced running cables, etc. I know enough to disconnect the lever from the cable and how to unscrew it from the handlebars. I appreciate any suggestions, thanks!

JohnDThompson 

Some brake levers have an adjustable reach; a set-screw on the lever moves it in or out to accommodate different hand sizes. What levers does your bike have?

Wythnail

If at all possible, a picture of your handlebars and levers as they are now after you "move them very far to the center" would probably help. I'm having trouble picturing the set-up.

I will say, just because its easier to pull hard at the end doesn't mean thats where you have to pull. If you can get a more secure grip in the middle or further in, you can try and adjust your brakes so that there's less space between the pads and the rim, so you can get enough braking strength from pulling in the middle.

Andrew R Stewart 

Not yet mentioned is that as the lever/grip gap diminishes so does the amount of cable that gets moved with the lever pull. So a concern is when the lever/grip gap that the small hand can handle the amount of braking will be very small (stopping force wise). In the attempt to balance this the pads will need to be set so close to the rims sides that some pad rub is likely, when just riding along and not yet pulling on the levers. Andy.

linberl

The lever with black grips is the one I am talking about; my trek handlebar. The lever with multicolor grip is my e-bike and I have no problems with that brake lever, but as you can see, it's short and has a different dogleg style. The levers are stamped "C.Star" if that helps. The issue is not a "front-to-back" reach as much as it is getting the end of the lever moved in left-to-right from the end of the grip. When the lever is positioned "normally" I end up braking using my ring and pinky fingers (not strong enough). Moving it to the center of the handlebar get me closer to braking with my index and middle fingers, but then the pull is not back into the bar, it angles upward. It only becomes a "reach" issue if I angle the lever down to compensate for this. Hope that makes sense.

BCRider

If it helps I like to set up my brake levers the same way. Also by setting them inwards in a crash they are less likely to be broken.

I've got bad news for you though. You won't get what you want with those handlebars. You need to get new handlebars that have the riser bends in tighter to the middle so you have more working room up on the raised portion to play with. Or you need to get some new levers with shorter arms on them. But that won't give you the mechanical advantage you want unless you buy specific good quality levers.

And before you ask if you want to look at new handlebars no, I don't have any specific recommendations. Instead you will need to measure how much rise your present bars have and the distance between the outer reaches of the last riser bend where you want to put the levers. Then go shopping to bike shops in your area with tape measure in hand shopping for bars that have pretty much the same rise but with the bends in tighter to the middle.

Or you can look around to see if you can find some Avid Speedial brake levers. Or some newer version of this adjustable pull design.


For giggles I checked and there's lots of Speedial levers on Ebay for around $25 a pair with free shipping. A set of these levers is likely going to work well for you. They really are great levers and with the movable shuttle you can play with reach vs cable pull.

If you go for the best mechanical advantage they do not pull a lot of cable. If you have rim brakes then the warnings above about the importance of very true wheels and perfectly adjusted calipers is a must.

JohnDThompson 

The screw marked by the arrow will adjust the lever reach. You may be able to use it to bring the lever close enough to the bar for your hands:

linberl

I never thought about replacing the handlebar, only getting different levers. That's actually a terrific solution! I am not entirely comfortable with the handlebars anyway. The brakes are canti brakes and not all that fabulous to begin with (Altus C91) and might get changed out later to V brakes if and when the little grey plastic things break (apparently common but mine are fine for now). At that point I'll have to change out levers anyway, I guess. So - off to find new bars with more flat area! Thanks for all the advice and suggestions here