Shifters with the shortest throw?

[Bencolem]

So I got my 7 year old his first road bike this Christmas (Felt F24). The bike’s awesome and he’s awesome riding it. The only problem is that he really struggles with the long sweep of the STI. The bike has Microshift STI’s with a small ‘button’ like lever on the outside of the RHS to move to a smaller rear cassette cog, but to sweep the long lever back to shift to a larger rear cassette is really too far for his small hands.

I need to stick to a 10spd set-up (24” wheel doesn’t have the freebie spacing for an 11spd cassette) and whilst something like 6770 Di2 would be perfect, I’m not sold on dropping $$$’s on that upgrade (and battery / cable routing would be a nightmare?).

So can anyone recommend an STI that has a particularly short throw? Thanks

[R3awak3n]

definitely not shimano, the throw is looooong. I would say campy has a pretty short throw and the campy shifters work great for smaller hands. You can get campy 10 speed groups for a decent price too, like old centaur or something like that.

Also anything electronic but that will cost $$$

[Kontact]

I have Microshift on a bike and don't find them that drastically different in throw from other STI types. I would bet Shimano is going to require the least force and distance, but you should seriously consider bar end shifters.

[smontanaro]

Why mess with STI? Go straight to Di2. Then all he has to worry about is pushing a little button, right? :)

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[ultraman6970]

You have to go campagnolo, maybe an old 10 speed veloce or a 10 chorus. But shimano is not an option because of the size of the lever and because of the travel of the lever. Never understood why they never developed something smaller for kids.

Just my opinion ok? if the frame has downtube bosses just go downtube shifters. Your kid will learn to shift is it should.

[audiojan]

Definitely Campy. My wife is pretty tiny and has really small hands, Shimano is simply uncomfortable due to the long throw, Campy works perfect.

[JAGI410]

Downtube/Bar end shifters :banana:

[chrismoustache]

One of the reason I went with Sram was for the 1:1 throw/pull ratio. This would mean swapping derailleurs then too.

[ltwtsculler91]

One of the reason I went with Sram was for the 1:1 throw/pull ratio. This would mean swapping derailleurs then too.

I'll second this for SRAM. I have relatively small hands and like the double-tap mechanism a lot.

[cmbicycles]

Shimano made short reach options like r700 levers in the first 10s variety. Not sure if the lever throw is much different.

[palincss]

So I got my 7 year old his first road bike this Christmas (Felt F24). The bike’s awesome and he’s awesome riding it. The only problem is that he really struggles with the long sweep of the STI. The bike has Microshift STI’s with a small ‘button’ like lever on the outside of the RHS to move to a smaller rear cassette cog, but to sweep the long lever back to shift to a larger rear cassette is really too far for his small hands.

I need to stick to a 10spd set-up (24” wheel doesn’t have the freebie spacing for an 11spd cassette) and whilst something like 6770 Di2 would be perfect, I’m not sold on dropping $$$’s on that upgrade (and battery / cable routing would be a nightmare?).

So can anyone recommend an STI that has a particularly short throw? Thanks

Bar end shifters have a lot shorter throw than any brifters.

[Kontact]

I think there is a certain perception issue in this question. I said "Shimano" because the action is pretty light, so you can manipulate the lever up close to the pivot point. Campy are also light, but you can't get at the lever as easily with small hands, which effectively makes the throw from the hoods somewhat long. I like SRAM levers, but they are stiff, making it also necessary to reach further down the lever.

With kids road bikes using especially shallow/short bars, bar end shifters are not as weirdly located as they are on full size bars with fairly low drops. (Few kids size bikes get the bars lower than the saddle.) A lot of kids are going to use the drops much more than adult will, so the bar ends are actually very usefully placed. You can even cut an inch off the bars to keep the shifters where the end caps used to be.

The other advantage of bar ends is that you can shift with your full arm strength if need be, rather than just fingers and wrists.

[RyanH]

Campagnolo's thumb shifter is going to be a challenge for someone in the drops. I wear size large gloves and sometimes have trouble getting at it in the drops.

[Bencolem]

Thanks all for the response, appreciate how many views in how short a period of time the forum always delivers! Hadn't really thought about bar end shifters, will have to look into it this weekend. Had thought out rigging some grip shifters to the tops of the bars but he really likes using the hoods (and the drops as Kontact correctly called). I do have a spare Rival 10spd wifli drivetrain so will check if the throw is any shorter on that. I'm also now watching a 6770 di2 shift kit on eBay... Thanks again all!