63rickert

Weinmann Junior levers. Simple to convert to aero. When aero was introduced we all converted our levers, any brand.

RiddleOfSteel

Yup, if she's not concerned about riding in the drops (and thus being able to reach the levers from there), then these SLR-era levers are an excellent choice! The later Shimano BL-R400 and BL-R600 levers, which are the exact same just branded "SHIMANO" on the lever blade, are also great. Early '90s Shimano 105, RX100, and various Exage levers all have the same body shape/size/thickness, just different trimmings and color or surface treatment on the brake lever blade. A great time for brake levers, eh?

smoothness 

@The Golden Boy, @Salamandrine, @CycleryNorth81, @ascherer, @La Brea Bike and @RiddleOfSteel are correct. Find modern levers that have shims or are designed for smaller hands.

Trying to find proportional components as a shorter person is a headache, to say the least. My hands are probably similar in length; the black TRP levers (with shims) are the ones you want. The price doubles when you want gum hoods and aero holes. Though they're expensive compared to the rest of the components, the return on the investment is amazing. Modern ergonomics are light years better than any vintage design. Another thing to consider are bars with a short hook and aggressive sweep. Women are generally longer in the legs and shorter above the waist. Function > Form

The Golden Boy 

Yes.

IMO- the old slotted non-aero levers are just so cool looking, but after using the RRL levers- you just want levers to be like that. In my case, my concept of "Form" changed. (not that it doesn't change on a daily basis anyway). What used to be the fugliest, awkwardest, bad idea design ever started becoming intriguing and then actually pretty cool.

FWIW- I also have the IRD ZST drilled levers- they're fine- but IMO- the RRLs are much much nicer.

non-fixie 

La Brea Bike

Thanks, everyone for the massive overstimulation on this one! I knew I would get some great perspective here! MGopack42, Thanks very much for the offer, it was very generous.

We'll mull it over here and definitely go with something more compact. I'll let you know what happens!

79pmooney

But ... if you ride from the top of the hoods, it is not a fast change to get to either interrupter levers on the tops or the brakes from the hoods because your hands are already forward of both those position. You can slide forward and down, very fast. I felt quite secure riding on the top bend of the HBs in my racing days knowing I could get to those brakes quickly. The opposite is not true. Even less so if you are going downhill. Emergencies call for getting to the brakes fast, Riding from the hoods means your braking from there better be good because you are committed (unless the situation gives the rider time, in which case it doesn't rank as an emergency).

This is why I am not in favor of setting up bikes to be most comfortable in the hoods. I set my bikes up to be comfortable and ridable all day from the drops. Only then (and after I have set the brakes up to be an easy reach from the drops do I start looking at the hood positions. (When I was being introduced to racing back in a distant era, the club vets stressed that as well as stressing that when riding conditions or riders around us got iffy or our attention span was wandering, we owed it to ourselves to be in the drops.)

I realize that small people have challenges finding bikes that even allow the choice of the drops as the number one place to be.

Ben

noglider 

I want to emphasize a point not emphasized enough here. Part of the problem is the calipers. Those have less leverage than all other calipers. Use dual-pivot brakes!

An alternative to consider, to supplement -- not replace -- the calipers, is to give up on drop bars and use upright bars. If the rider doesn't want to lean down much, then she doesn't need drop bars.

Salamandrine 

It's true. Those calipers look like Weinmann 605 (sidepull single pivots). People did this occasionally to save a couple grams, and also because centerpulls were uncool. 605's were never that great back in the day - even from the drops. That's from a time when people were taught that you had to actuate the levers from the drops, or use "safety levers" and be satisfied with weaker braking. Actuating them from the hoods even with modern levers is going to provide weak braking.

Yeah, dual pivots + modern levers will work. However, putting the original center pull brakes back on, and using modern levers designed for hood braking will also work. Center pulls were the original dual pivot, and if used with good pads (koolstop) they will have similar braking power.

Upright bars are worthy of consideration. I wonder why a lot of modern riders bother with drops, since they never leave the hoods.

noglider 

Center pulls would be an improvement but not as big an improvement as dual-pivot side pull brakes.

Salamandrine 

While that is true, IME well set up center pulls with modern pads will get you most of the way there, or at the very least more than halfway. I use this combination and it works for me.

Yet, if the rider truly wants to never leave the hoods, I do agree that the wise choice is to go with modern dual pivots.

Digressing: CP and dual pivots are mechanically similar anyway. Both types are dual pivot, though the latter I believe have slightly higher MA on average. Anyone have comparative mechanical advantage numbers? When dual pivots first came out I was working in an LBS, and my first reaction was that they felt just like MAFAC brakes. I saw it at the time mostly as a way to reintroduce CP brakes, but to make them look like something new and cool, and CP most certainly were not cool circa 1990ish.