Smiley
11-14-2006, 09:09 PM
First of all my wife likes them on her size cycle fit, thats all that really counts but since you may want more technical info here it is. My wife has small hands and we set her sizing up with Salsa 40 cm POCO bars. She currently rides with Durace 9 speed so the only comparison I needed to show her / see for my own eyes was how the ergonomics of the Rival works out versus the 10 speed stuff from Shimano. The Rival brifters although at first take look longer they definitely mount higher on the shortish bends of the POCO bars to make for a almost dead level transition from the tops of the bars to the hoods, not so with the 9 speed Shimano stuff and not quite so with the 10 speed Shimano stuff either. The bigest issue with the shimano 10 speed brifters which turned my wife off was the bulbous ends that she had to grab to do and meaniful shifting or out of the saddle riding, the Rival stuff is as thin as the older 9 speed stuff. It looks like the Rival stuff as I suspected is the hands down winner when it comes to small hands and bike fit , sorry clones this household does not do thumb shifting so Campy was not in the running. Although Campy would be a tad shorter in the hoods BUT they don't ride as high on POCO bars as the new Rival stuff. I have them and have compared them for other clients but not for my wifes fit.
Rival I am sure will even tickle my wife further when the shift technique is considered since it almost better for smaller hands then Shimano IMHO. Best of luck and bike is to be drafted now.
All brifters are mounted on the bends so as the drops are just a tad pointing down but almost level to the eye but not quite.
Rival I am sure will even tickle my wife further when the shift technique is considered since it almost better for smaller hands then Shimano IMHO. Best of luck and bike is to be drafted now.
All brifters are mounted on the bends so as the drops are just a tad pointing down but almost level to the eye but not quite.