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Girlfriend’s Sora bike shifters too heavy for her to use comfortably, how to upgrade?

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  • April 22, 2016 at 7:30 am #25641
    tritecommentbot

    She has small hands and isn’t very strong so pulling on the brakes is a lot of work for her. Problem is especially bad on long downhills when she doesn’t want to let the bike run away from her and she’ll use her whole upper lower and upper arms to keep the brakes on. Her traps muscles have been frozen stiff after a ride last weekend.

     

    She doesn’t want to ride again until the shifters are sorted.

     

    Playing around on my Ultergra’s she notices how much lighter and easier they are, so I’m thinking to swap hers out for mine, or just get her some of her own, if that’s possible.

     

    Either that or is there some sort of tension setting in shifters where you can make them easier to squeeze? I think they’re fine, just a bit heavy and clunky which is fine if you have large hands, not great if you don’t and have to use your finger tips.

     

    What about I give her my Ultegras and get myself some Dura Aces? Then we both get upgrades and the cash seems better spent. Though I’ve read that Dura Ace shifters aren’t much of an upgrade to Ultegra.

     

     

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Viewing 11 replies - 16 through 26 (of 26 total)
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  • April 22, 2016 at 1:01 pm #870385
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    tritecommentbot
    rjfrussell wrote:
    n+1 with hydraulic disc brakes

     

    You’re as bad as she is. Not even 100 miles on the odo and she’s eyeing up a Bianchi Infinito CV Dama with disc brakes.

    April 22, 2016 at 12:47 pm #870383
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    rjfrussell

    hydraulic disc brakes

    n+1 with hydraulic disc brakes

    April 22, 2016 at 12:23 pm #870381
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    thelighterthief

    I had a similar problem with

    I had a similar problem with the sora levers. I’ve solved it in 2 ways. The original calipers (unbranded on a kona) were replaced with trp ones and I worked on my confidence going downhill so I didn’t brake all the way. 

     

    I also now now try to brake in the drops on long descents as this is easier. 

     

     

    April 22, 2016 at 12:19 pm #870379
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    tritecommentbot

    Thanks guys, got way more

    Thanks guys, got way more solutions than I expected. Going to start with the least costly and work my way up. Can’t slack on this, only just got her interested, this is killing it off.

     

    Didn’t hear what I wanted though.. to buy myself Dura Ace and find a way to make the Ultegras work on hers. Maybe get a DA crankset to go with it..

     

    Another day surprise

    April 22, 2016 at 11:18 am #870377
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    StraelGuy

    I agree with the better brake

    I agree with the better brake pads comment. Cheap pads (Tektro, Sora etc) are really very poor. I have disc brakes on my carbon bike and rim brakes on my steel winter bike. The winter bike has Swissstop Green pads and it pretty much as good as the disc bike in the rain – the pads really are VERY good.

    April 22, 2016 at 11:13 am #870375
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    P3t3

    1)I think the first thing is

    1)I think the first thing is to make the brakes better so braking takes less lever effort.  If its a sora bike then it probably has rubbish brake pads.  Buy some better ones e.g. ultegra pads or the right kind of kool stop.  Before you put them on clean the braking surface on ethe rims with soapy water/panscrub and then solvent (or WD40 works too) which will improve braking.  You could also go for some nicer calipers if that doesn’t help enough.  The other suggestion of some really good quality cables/ liners is likely to help too.  

    2) She likely has little hands – if you have reach adjust on the brakes set them back so that the brakes are applied at the end of the lever throw – take care with this because you want the brakes to be fully on before the lever hits the bar, you might need to run the pads quite close to the rim to get this right.  The stuff in point 1) will help this setup too.  

    3) Failing all that why not try to find some older dura ace or ultegra 9-speed shifters? 

    4) You could also fit dedicated crosstop levers on the brake routing that allows her another position to brake from.  

     

    Last point: I’m surprised that it is her traps that are hurting – is it really braking that is causing this or does the bike not fit properly!?  Make sure she is comfortable on the bike if you want to continue riding with her! 🙂

     

     

     

    April 22, 2016 at 11:09 am #870373
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    CXR94Di2

    If braking is difficult then
    If braking is difficult then a new system would improve performance. Disc brakes with hydraulic calipers offer the best solution with little effort and good braking capacity. Modifying a bike will be an expensive exercise and it it sometimes cheaper to buy a complete bike with features required. But there is a lot of satisfaction when a successful modification has been completed

    April 22, 2016 at 10:56 am #870371
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    allanj

    Sora are 9 speed, it’s a long

    Sora are 9 speed, it’s a long time since ultegra has been 9 speed so you’d have to do a lot more than change the brifters for your plan to work.  Blatant excuse for upgrade to Dura Ace anyway 

     

    Interestingly my other half has the same issue, which coupled with non bedded in disk brakes made for an entertaining start to our first ride together on her new bike………..  Relationship still in recovery mode from that one

     

    We are currently looking at getting a set of in line levers added so she can brake comfortably while on the tops.

    April 22, 2016 at 9:53 am #870369
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    maevans

    I suspect its a small hands

    I suspect its a small hands issue, rather than the tension of the levers.

    I’ve found that on the Sora levers (and the old Tiagra style ones) the pivot point is quite low, so people with small hands have to apply a lot more pressure, as their fingers are naturally very close to the pivot point. I had this problem – could only really put the brakes on fully when in the drops.

    The new Tiagra (4700 series)  have the newer style levers (i.e. ones that look like 105/Ultegra etc) with the pivots in a better place.

    Likewise, the new Sora (not sure if its out yet – this one: http://microco.sm/out/V64bh) will have the newer style levers as well. It wouldn’t be a straight swap if you went down this line – the cable pull is different on the newer style levers so you’d have to replace deraileurs as well.

    April 22, 2016 at 9:12 am #870367
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    tritecommentbot
    Bowks wrote:
    It might be worth replacing the cable inners and outers with a quality polymer lined set from Shimano/Jagwire to see if the friction reduction makes braking easier for your gf, before you make a big investment in new STIs.

    I just switched out my cables and the braking feels a lot lighter and smoother.

     

    Interesting thanks wouldn’t have thought of that!

    April 22, 2016 at 9:06 am #870365
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    Bowks

    It might be worth replacing

    It might be worth replacing the cable inners and outers with a quality polymer lined set from Shimano/Jagwire to see if the friction reduction makes braking easier for your gf, before you make a big investment in new STIs.

    I just switched out my cables and the braking feels a lot lighter and smoother.

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