Awful braking ability after expensive bicycle fitting

[Cyril Haearn]

I think bike-fitting is a waste of money, anyone agree?

Much better to do it oneself, read about it, try different adjustments, then one learns too

One just needs a helper to take photos of positions for comparison

[Paulatic]

Everyone appears to assume the picture is of the type of handlebar the OP has. Do we know that for a fact?
I find I can brake stronger from the tops as I’m using my hand like a claw whereas braking fro the drops is more reliant on finger strength.

I believe miles and miles of Cycling and a willingness to experiment moving contact points around has given me my bike-fit.
Never pay anyone to do owt you can do yerself.

[landsurfer]

I use the drops when "getting down to it" into headwind perhaps, so considerably less than 1% of my riding.

I take Mr. Boardman's advice on this matter .... " Headwind ? ..... Slow Down "

[LollyKat]

I don't understand how a rounder bar is going to help.

It would help with braking from the drops by bringing the hand closer to the lever blade. This is a problem the OP has at present

Thanks. I didn't read the OP carefully enough - I thought he was wanting to use the hoods.

[PT1029]

How do you brake from the hoods (ie using the red position in the OP photo for braking)?
If you try with fingers only while on the hoods, you'll probably get poor braking. I do most of my braking from the hoods, but I do the braking not by curling my fingers (as per when on the drops), but by pivoting* my whole hand at the wrist, that way my on hood braking is on par with my drops braking (as far as I remember, I hardly ever brake from the hoods - usually only on descents I know to be fast and with a rough surface, even then I use the drops as my hand grips the bars better in case I hit a hole/lump at speed.
I have fairly large hands (lge/exlge gloves), not so sure how well this works if you have small hands.
*So the wrist movement is one of swinging/pivoting your hands in a sideways pivoting at the wrist, with fingers remaining straight/in a slight fixed curve round the brake lever (for grip).

[foxyrider]

I never, ever use the drops on my bike but cannot abide straight bars .. so the drop lowers never see my hands, i ride on the hoods and the inner upper bar sections only ...... am i alone in this ......

Not alone

[Vorpal]

I think bike-fitting is a waste of money, anyone agree?

Much better to do it oneself, read about it, try different adjustments, then one learns too

One just needs a helper to take photos of positions for comparison

Not everyone can work it out for themselves. Also, I think professional advice is often a good thing.

I've known people to be greatly helped by a fitting.

[foxyrider]

No, the pivot will be the same, but the handlebar above and below it will be different.

Personally, I don't like the STI shape and the pivot point, and I have big hands. I found them very inefficient.

I have a thread on here somewhere about my issue with STIs. I didn't get much sympathy or agreement ............ Here's the photo from it.Campag vs Tiagra.jpg

When I, for my sins, worked for a bike manufacturer at the turn of the century, this issue came up often. To meet BS you (in theory) couldn't use Campag levers with the new ergo bars despite them being smaller than Sti's - the blade sat mm's too far from the drop section.

When I had Sti's on a bike (well that's what it came with) I struggled with the braking, my hands are quite small (I use s/m or even ladies gloves) and barking from the drops was almost impossible, on the hoods I had to grip well forward to get enough purchase on the levers.

Ergo's are much smaller and I happily cover the brakes with the heel of my hands resting at the back of the hood. Plenty of braking power and I do like a minimal bite point, can easily lock things up if conditions are wrong (it's not exactly a desired thing as you lose control!)

For the OP, the Shimano shims may help - or not, different bars could help too. OTOH they mention London commuting, well i'd want to be as upright as comfortable in that situation which hood riding helps with. I would never want to brake on the drops in that situation for that reason alone.

Maybe a shorter stem could help, reducing the stretch to the levers. But definitely, stick with it for your own safety.

[djnotts]

"As anyone cycling in London knows, you need really good brakes! "

That'll be flat bars then!

[ANTONISH]

I always brake from the tops - including with STi's. Unfortunately although I was raised on Campag Gran Sport, I find that Campagnolo don't offer what I want.
I find that when I've set up the levers to be most convenient for the tops they are less easy to use on the drops - Only use drops into a head wind anyway.

It seems there are bike fits and bike fits - if you are happy with your set up and are not suffering physical problems why bother?
"531Colin " has offered some excellent advice on setting a position in this forum - follow that and tweak it to see what suits.

[ANTONISH]

"As anyone cycling in London knows, you need really good brakes! "

That'll be flat bars then!

Well at least two brakes

[Brucey]

arguably you can have your dropped bar cake and eat good town brakes too, by fitting a set of cross-top brake levers.

cheers

[Freddie]

Has anyone measured the brake lever distance on STIs or Ergos and compared them to, say, Exage brake levers. Just from looking at the length of the hood, they seem to be somewhat longer than that of Exage levers, which would make sense given they have to contain shifter gubbins. It would be interesting to know any difference in distance from clamp to lever with these differing levers, as this would affect reach.

[Cyril Haearn]

arguably you can have your dropped bar cake and eat good town brakes too, by fitting a set of cross-top brake levers.

cheers

Is that a veiled reference to Monsieur Mangetout?
He are a whole bicycle

[Mick F]

Has anyone measured the brake lever distance on STIs or Ergos and compared them to, say, Exage brake levers. Just from looking at the length of the hood, they seem to be somewhat longer than that of Exage levers, which would make sense given they have to contain shifter gubbins. It would be interesting to know any difference in distance from clamp to lever with these differing levers, as this would affect reach.

This thread ............ but I didn't get much sympathy.

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