The new normal of brake hood position??

[Tommasini53]

I've seen a couple pictures of Radio Shack's Trek/Sram set up and I was surprised by the height of the brake hoods. Looking at some photos at cyclingnews.com it appears several of the teams have moved the brake hoods upward.

If any of the full time mechanics or professional fitters have the industry scoop I'm curious if the trend is brand specific or across all three of the brands.

Looks like shallow drop bars are in too. -ag :D

www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/pro-bike-lance-armstrongs-team-radioshack-trek-madone-6-series-rvv/113751

www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/road-race-machines-from-the-93rd-giro-ditalia

[RaleighComp]

Looks a little weird, agreed. But maybe cycling has changed a bit. Back in the 70's and 80's with down tube shifters we didn't spend near as much time on the hoods, probably because it was a farther reach to the downtube to shift. I recently realized that we never used to climb standing on the hoods like we do now, probably again because it would be impossible to shift without breaking rhythm. My guess is that the lack of needing to reach to the downtube for anything except a water bottle has now resulted in a situation where the drops are now more and more reserved for sprinting and descending and the seat to drop differential is probably getting extreme amongst the pros such that the rest of their time is on the, perhaps now lower, flats or hoods. Another factor is that the mechanical advantage of modern brakes is so high now that a single index finger is all you need from the drops to do effective braking, so the higher hoods aren't hurting you there either. In fact, the higher hoods might promote faster shifting in sprints as well, with a more relaxed and more extended index finger due to the higher brifter height.

Just my .02.

[bobswire]

I must ride at least 60-70% on the hoods except for climbing when I grasp the bars.

[Louis]

I set the hoods so that the bottom of each levers is approximately on a line formed by the extension of the bottom of the bar drops. (I think that's the somewhat traditional way of doing it.) That also gives me a pretty good transition at the bar-hood intersection for my hands and wrists.

IMO hoods that are pointing to the sky look pretty silly.

[1centaur]

I just had Red set up on a new bike by an experienced high end shop and they looked a little high like the first picture (I had asked for a flat ramp and bar ends parallel to the ground). After riding them, I think they're perfect - feels like a flat ramp even though it looks high. I've seen some Justin Spinelli (Flux) builds across the hall that look exactly the same way.

[Dave]

Lance has always liked the hoods to be angled up - nothing new about that. The most extreme I can remember was Floyd Landis using Campy levers, set up with the hoods so high that the brake levers were swung very far from the hooks.

I set my hoods to either be horizontal, or angled up just a couple of degrees. When I first setup the new Campy ultrashift ergos, I found that 5mm of movement along the bend covered the range from too low to too high.

I never use the brake lever as a reference point. It's your palms that need to be comfortable.

[Ralph]

I never use the brake lever as a reference point. It's your palms that need to be comfortable.[/QUOTE]

Interesting you say that, because I've got one bike with older 9 speed hoods and one hike with newer Ultra hoods, and I've been trying to decide how much extra reach you get with the Ultra hoods (measures about a stem size difference). I've decided the extra reach to the brakes is more than the extra reach where I put my hands on the hoods. That the actual extra reach when riding is not as much as the extra reach to the brakes measures. If this makes any sense.

[Dave]

Ralph..

That makes perfect sense. The brake lever is curved back so it's not too far from the hooks. I would never expect a brake hood with longer reach to also move the brake lever further from the hooks - that would make them unuseable for many people. With nearly all levers, mounting them too high swings the brake lever so far from the hooks that only riders with large hands could reach them.

I can't reach the brake levers well from the hooks, so I make a small modification to swing the brake lever closer to the hooks. With Campy levers, a small bit of epoxy putty, placed on the ergo body, behind the quick release pin keeps the lever from reaching it's normal -fully open position.

The new Campy ultrashift levers have a little longer reach at the brake hood (3-5mm by my measurements), but the brake lever is actually a little closer than it was with the previous model. It still wasn't enough of an improvement for me to avoid the need to make my modification.

[ahumblecycler]

I set my hood position to what is comfortable to me and allows me to maximize my cycling.

I suggest you do the same.

[93legendti]

I think the angle of the shot makes the lever position look higher than it really is. I have my Sram levers set up just about the same way on my BF Tikit...very comfy.