I can't reach the brake levers!

Just a little personal experience with my new bike to share, I'm still in the process of playing with the setup and getting things just right (I have more important things to spend my money on than a bike fitting session).

I was having trouble reaching the brakes on the drops, to the point I was avoiding using them. I've since moved my saddle back by about 1cm and tilted the nose up by a couple of degrees (by a couple we're talking less than 5deg) and suddenly I can reach the brakes, and sitting on the drops is far more comfy.

I'm not suggesting this will help you, but don't just fixate on the bar position, when the saddle and pedals can have a huge influence on your bars. Obviously if you have the £'s a bike fit will help, but otherwise don't be afraid to adjust all parts of the bike (just be sure to note the original position in case the new setup doesn't work).

Think it's Lizard Skins DSP tape...

From dealing with women who often have this problem:
1. your bars have 'sagged'. The top of the bar needs to be flat, so undo the stem and reposition, lifting them up.
2. The hoods look to be in the wrong place on the bars, too close to the stem. By moving them down a little, the angle should decrease.
Correct these two and it may be improved.
3. What Abbie says above about slackening the cable - my bite point is two thirds in instead of a third in, which means I have more control and I can grasp the levers first without braking.

Deda RHM. My five foot nothing girlfriend with hands like a baby meerkat can reach the levers with them.

I Had a similar problem of reach. Hoods and Brakes. I put a shorter Stem on first. Then Changed the Bars to the FSA Omega compacts, now use the drops with ease.
For the brakes (i use Shim 105) I have to slacked the cables, so I can grab the lever first and squeeze it in before they even engage (not Ideal) but it works for me.

I have small hands and Campagnolo Mk2 Record Ergos - they aren't adjustable / come with wedges so it's simply down to finding a suitable handlebar. FSA Compact and Ritchey WCS Compact work well for me but bar angle / lever position is critical. Anatomic bars don't work well with Ergos IME. I ride 90% of the time on the hoods - even for CX where big handfuls of brakes are a necessity.

I have a set of Cinelli ergo bars with Record, and the reach is fine, but the bars have more distance of top curve than yours, the levers are lower down, and the drops are parallel to the floor.

I also checked a set of modolo Tao ergo bars I had on the shelf, they're the same shape as the Cinelli's, some think going to a shop and looking at different bar shapes is the way forward.

for a bloke i have quite small hands and campagnolo chorus ergos. i did find that
anatomical bars just don't work. i now have deda newton shallow on one bike and
deda speciale 26 on the other. perfect now !
Apologies for the upside down tape measure

Take great care when you mess about with the position of Campag levers...

http://road.cc/content/forum/133064-i-feel-crying-campagnolo-ergo-cracki...

I'd be looking at a compact handlebar; those 'anatomic' style bars are anything but, and a compact bar will work better all round.

http://ruedatropical.com/2009/03/road-drop-bar-geometry/

From your pictures I think that your hoods may be a tad too high on the front curve of the bar. If they were a bit lower down the ends of the levers would be closer in.
The front curve on your bar is quite tight so a small change here would give a relatively large change in lever position.
To maintain the hoods at the same angle you would then need to rotate the bars up slightly.
Imagine loosening the hoods and the stem and, keeping the hoods in the same position, rotating the bar up (clockwise in the photos).

A set of bars that have a more classic round curve would allow you to get a bit closer. You might also experiment with the angle of the bars - just loosen the cap on the stem a bit and play around (without riding - that wouldn't be safe).

For example, if you move the shifters further down the bars a bit, then tilt the bar up to be where you want when riding on the hoods, you might find you can reach the brakes a bit better from the drops. You'd have to remove the tape but it's a lot cheaper than new bars. As mentioned, Shimano shifters have inserts that bring the levers in closer if desired. I have a collection of them (big hands

Holy shit...

Not sure if new bars will make a difference. The length of the hoods are the issue here I think. As they all come a standard size I'm not sure what you could do.

I'm not being funny here but maybe the brake levers you get on kids high end road bikes are of a different size?