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I got nice Torpado as birthday present. I am not sure if the brake levers are too big for my hands, or too old. They seem very tight but also not that easy to reach. I am 5.3 tall, the frame is 49cm. I was looking at maybe getting Weinmann Dia-Compe Small Dual Safety brake levers. I have attached some photos of the levers.

Brakes 1

brakes 2

brakes 3

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    +1 for being a new user and posting very helpful pictures
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Commented Jan 24, 2018 at 21:56
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    With that style brake lever the "reach" of the lever is highly dependent on the shape of the handlebar and where the lever is placed on the bar. As pictured the levers are mounted about as high up on the elbow of the bar as could be -- moving them lower would produce more comfort and a more manageable reach for many people. And some levers of that style have an adjustment screw (perhaps hidden under the boot) to adjust reach.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jan 24, 2018 at 23:40
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    A slightly hokey fix to the problem would be to insert spacers in the lever mechanism, between the lever itself and the stationary body. These would have an effect somewhat similar to the "suicide levers" that used to be common with such designs (partly because they addressed this issue). In fact, it's not impossible that this bike originally came with suicide levers and they were removed by a "purist".
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jan 24, 2018 at 23:45
  • The brake levers are oddly positioned for that type of bike and bar, way up to high, pointing forward.They should be further down next to the apex of the curve with the levers almost vertical. It will also shorten the distance to the bar. And: don't use so-called Dual Safety levers that are also called suicide levers. They are dangerous!
    – Carel
    Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 9:01
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    @Criggie - Yeah, that's what I was saying.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 20:09

2 Answers 2

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Those levers are from the days when road bike levers mostly all came in one reach "category," which is quite a bit longer than ideal for probably a good 50-60% of the adult human population.

You may be able to get it a little better without changing components by adjusting either the angle of the bars (where they're clamped into the stem) and/or the position where the levers are clamped to the bars, which involves messing with the tape. It's normal to have to tweak both before one feels the lever ergonomics are as dialed as possible. That said, they may very well still be too far out.

If by tight you mean the brakes are adjusted now so there's little lever travel before the brake firms up, that's pretty easy to adjust by giving the brake cable some more slack, either by screwing in the barrel adjusters if they're out now or by re-clamping the cables, being careful not to leave any overly crimped spots in the system. That might make the brake feel in use a lot better for you even if it doesn't help the initial reach.

There are at least two different modern brake-only levers that you could get that are designated as "compact," for smaller hands. Tektro makes them and a bunch of companies have versions of them with their name on them, like Cane Creek and Origin8.

Current road bikes usually have integrated brake levers/shifters, which these days all have some way of adjusting reach.

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A "suicide lever", for those unfamiliar with the concept:

enter image description here

Note that the way the lever interfaces with the regular brake lever forces the brake lever forward, even when unactivated. It is this motion (possibly achieved with some other form of spacer) that might be useful to the OP.

(Though it should be noted that another solution to the OP's problem is to ride with hands on the brake hoods. This is more natural for many riders.)

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