jefnvk

I'm a man who has no problem admitting that compared to other men he has small hands. I also still have hands bigger than a typical woman. For reference, biking gloves I generally fall more often into a medium than large. Might not sound small, but the rest of me fits into at least one, and generally multiple, X's in the biking world.

I'm in the market for new aero brake levers, I know the Tektro 340 is the men's brake lever, and the 341 the woman's. My question: how much bigger is the 340 v the 341?

Sorry if this is a recurring topic, I found plenty of threads on what each was, but little on the actual sizing difference.

techsensei

I think the question is how much smaller are the 341's. I don't know, but my hands measure roughly 20cm around, which is considered small on most glove charts. I never feel the need to use compact levers.

jefnvk

Six of one, half dozen of another

My tape measure says mine are a bit shy of 22cm. It wasn't so much a question of feeling I needed it, just if I had an option, was it maybe better to go smaller.

techsensei

As a point of reference, I've worked on bicycles professionally since the late 70's. I've built enough bikes with both regular and compact levers to know I don't need them, and that they feel small to me.

jefnvk

That is the type of input I was looking for! Thanks for your insight.

As an added bonus, the regular sized are a few bucks cheaper too!

Andrew R Stewart 

Many current levers that offer both short reach and standard reach sizes have the same size body. Only the levers curve and distance from the bar is different. So measuring one's hand size (as in glove size or around the palm) isn't the sole (bad near pun) determinate of lever fit. The finger lengths come into play too. Andy.

techsensei

I believe that is true with regards to the Tektros.

My middle fingers measure about 10.5 cm from the middle of the knuckle to the tip.

SkyDog75

I've got RL340's on one of my bikes and my daughter has RL341's on her road bike, so I just went out into the garage to compare...

Just like Andy said, the two levers' bodies are the same and their overall dimensions are practically identical, but the RL341 lever blade curves back closer to the bar so it can be reached more easily. My hands are borderline medium/large for most brands' glove sizing and I found both levers to be comfy. I actually preferred the shape of the RL341 blades from the hoods -- I could get more of my fingers around them to get a better grip of the lever blade from the hoods.

After comparing them tonight... If I had to pick one of these levers for myself, I think it would come down to what kind of handlebar I'm pairing them with. My bike with RL340 levers has a traditional curved handlebar. The lever blade is a comfy distance to reach from the drops. If I put these levers on a compact/ergo/anatomic bar, I might have a hard time reaching the lever blade from the drops. On the other hand, the swept-back shape of the RL341 blade makes it easy to reach from the drops on my daughter's anatomic handlebar. If I was to put RL341 levers on a traditional bar though, it might take some careful adjustment to keep the lever blade from bottoming out when applying the brakes.

jefnvk

Hmm, also good information. It is sounding like my better option is to just go with the regular variant. I can't pretend to have a vast wealth of information on the particular style of handlebars I have, they are old Sakae Randonneurs on a Miyata 610 touring bike.

Then again, my hands only measure 9cm from knuckle to tip on the middle finger

camp123

Which did you choose? Do you have a picture of the R341's?

70sSanO

I bought some RL341's to put on my wife's bike before she went to brifters. I ended up putting them on a 1990 Allez Epic. It's our son's bike but when I have ridden it I really liked the 341's. Coming from 1980's drop bar brakes they are anything but small.

I do have to take exception with the statement that these brakes can bottom out on tradition drop bars. Under a normal installation there is no way they will bottom out. They have 2cm more travel available than my wife's Claris brifters. Now if a bike also has inline brake interrupters then care has to be taken to not set them up to brake too close to the bars as you gain brake lever travel with inline brake interrupters.

John

jefnvk

Heh, you're lucky I keep a messy email inbox and found some old post quotes, cause I sold that bike at least three years ago! Looks like RL340. Don't recall an issue with their size on my hands, but I couldn't tell you anything else about them at this point.