freebooter wrote:It sounds as if the problem is your hands getting tired? I don't really understand what you say about trying to reach the tips of the levers. When I brake from the hoods my fingers are around the top and middle of the lever not the tip.
I recently swapped from STI and cantis to V brakes and bar ends because the braking was very poor with the cantis. Using Tektro V brake levers and V brakes gives a huge increase in braking power, which is what I wanted, and also needs a much lighter touch on the levers and hence your hands wouldn't get as tired.
Maybe that's the key getting better brakes. Interrupter levers don't sound the answer either. I guess I just need to accept it and go on the drops if I don't want to give up my STI brakes.
"Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again so is the bicycle puncture repair kit." - Billy Connolly
I have shallow drops on one bike and use V brakes with road levers (not STI just brake lever). I used to find it hard to brake from hoods then I realised the brake arm tension was too high. Relaxed this and now it brakes smooth as butter and I can lock the front wheel! And surely have enough power from hoods. Correct arm tension is essential.
I too found this problem when I changed from aero to STI levers: and I spent some time trying to isolate the cause, when braking was noticeably more difficult and tiring even though set-up and position of all the components involved were identical. It so happens that I'm a pianist, used to analyzing the subtle effects of tiny changes in hand, wrist and finger position: but for a long time this had me baffled. Eventually I realized the key was the much greater width of a STI compared with a Shimano aero hood, the greater width necessary to accomodate the complex mechanism. With an aero hood the joint between the base of the thumb and first finger sits firmly on the top of the hood as the fingers begin to pull the lever inwards, providing a stable basis for a strong grip. There is no counter-movement in the rest of the hand as the grip tightens, and nothing moves except what you want to move - the lever. With a STI hood this doesn't happen. It's too wide to fit properly into the thumb/first finger joint. As a result, when you start to pull the lever pressure increases not on the stable joint, but on fleshy areas a few mm outward along the thumb and finger. This is an unstable position, resulting in a lot of unwanted hand movement and muscle tension in the wrong places. In consequence the hand action on the lever becomes a pull rather than a grip/squeeze - inefficient, uncomfortable and tiring. All hands are different, of course, and I'm describing here the physiology of my own hand, which is however of average size and strengthened and made more flexible by pianism. I'd be surprised, therefore, if other hands don't find similar difficulties.
The Sora levers which came with my bike were great units, light, easy to use, very effective breaking. The problem,of course, was changing in the drops. After about a year this was a problem I didn't want to live with any more so bought a set of adjustible levers in Shimano's 'Flight Deck' range. These came with a set of three sizes of shim which brought the leaver closer to your hand in the drops. Now I can get really good breaking in the drops, but find that they are very stiff to use from the hoods, whereas the Soras were brillintly light off the tops. You pays your money,as they say.....
I'm such a numpty! Have just found the Sora STI reach adjustment wedges in the packet of bits that I was given with the bike! Will try out later, have choice of two different thicknesses.
EDIT: Easy fit once I realised you have to pop out the little blanking plug from rearmost hole of the two in the STI body above lever. Just release brake caliper quick release, peel back hood from the top of STI, push something through that rearmost hole and collect little square plug carefully from underneath: (I dropped the left one into the STI so had to fish around to get it out). Then put correct side wedge (marked L or R) in position underneath two holes and push underside of wedge, eg. with flat blade screwdriver, to get two prongs on top of wedge fully home in the two holes, replace hood, do up quick release and check brake clearance: mine were OK as I have been running them quite wide so I could get good leverage, but now I don't have to stretch fingers/hand forward awkwardly to get an initial grip on the brake levers.
Probably won't get a ride in now until Sunday, will report back: I have installed the thickest wedges and put the thinner ones in my saddle pack so I can swap them out if needs be. One thing I noticed is that they are marked 'anatomic bar only' (which my bars are).
