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I just got myself a B'twin Triban 500; this is my first road bike, and my second bike overall, so it's fair to assume I'm as newbie as can be.

The brake levers came with the following sticker, and I'm very intrigued by their meaning — especially since the brakes are a little out of reach from my ridiculously tiny hands, and this may be vaguely related.

Shifters with three different angles, 0°, 4°, and 8°, corresponding to a movement of 0mm, 7.5mm, and 14mm respectively. Above the drawing of the levers are three schematics, showing some notches and knobs.

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  • Does the brake have a knob as well ? Does it resemble the setup described parktool.com/blog/repair-help/…
    – Jontas
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 14:40
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    Welcome to Bicycles SE. I've moved your indexing text to the image's alt tags. This is better for a number of reasons that I can't go into in such a confined space. I've also removed your "thank you" text. On all Stack Exchange sites, it is much preferred that you say "thank you" by by upvoting and accepting answers.
    – jimchristie ♦
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 14:51
  • @Jontas: I'm sorry, I'm not sure I see the connection there. jimirings: Ok, than…! hrr… :-)
    – Michaël
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 15:14
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    From the tag / icon alone, I'd say it was warning of an 8% chance of an earthquake. ;-)
    – Chris Conover
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 0:36

1 Answer 1

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These are referring to pad spacers. They essentially increase or decrease the amount of motion you have when moving the brake levers.

See page 16 of the following PDF for a better diagram:

Shimano Brake Levers User Guide

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  • This is entirely correct! Thanks very much for that; so it does seem that I can reduce the distance from my fingers to the breaks using these spacers. Now to find a place where I can buy them then!
    – Michaël
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 15:16
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    They should have come with your bike, but if you haven't found them there, any decent LBS should have a bunch of them on hand
    – Batman
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 16:39
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    If you know how, check if they are present before buying.
    – andy256
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 20:53
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    @Blam: Ahah, that's a nice one :-) Admittedly, there is only one Blame, but as you can see, there are multiple Michaels. I happen to be a umlaut-loaded one, however!
    – Michaël
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 23:07
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    @Michaël OK cool but I am Blam. But I am to blame for not seeing the difference.
    – paparazzo
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 23:22

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