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Sadly it’s not been addressed by manufacturers until recently. Home fixes include:
Set up slack brakes so they engage closer to the bar where small hands grip harder (not ideal in emergencies).
Use hor glue or other material to create a stopper at the top inside of the brake lever, preventing it from travelling all the way out.
High quality pads and callipers. Don’t underestimate how poorly contaminated pads and rims can perform!
Angling hoods up or down, to suit.
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Possible that there are reach adjustment shims out there somewhere, like these for the 5700
https://www.bike-components.de/en/Shimano/Reach-Adjustment-Block-for-ST-6700-ST-5700-p35236/
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Compresionless housing for the cables might help as well, since it helps to transfer all the force applied at the lever to the caliper
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Leshaches
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TLDR: How do people with small hands work with STI levers? Might need new calipers to replace [edit: 4500] Tiagra, what's the most cost efficient?
Trying to kit out my girlfriend with a bike at the lowest cost possible (she mainly wants to get from point A to point B, I'm trying to help her do it a bit faster) and bought a pretty great bike off someone here. Only issue is that her hands are tiny, and she is having difficulties braking from the hoods. She can apply sufficient force from crosstops, also from drops, but she spends most of her time in the hoods and is feeling uncomfortable with not being able to brake efficiently from there in the event of emergencies.
Levers seem to be ST5600 3x10 flight decks, while callipers appear to be Tiagra [edit: 4500]. Levers are a bit stiff, but she can pull them all the same, just not exert sufficient force on them. Things I have tried so far:
Things I am thinking of trying:
I'm not sure dirty wheel rims are an issue since I've not cleaned mine in a million years and they brake just fine, but at the same time I've tried her bike and I don't seem to be able to lock the wheel. Rims definitely have wear in them - could that be the issue?
Leaning towards swapping out the callipers since I've had 4600 before and their performance was not confidence-inspiring, so I'm wondering if they're the issue. If I do so, are there compatibility issues I should be concerned with, or can I just get any brake calliper (I'm thinking 5700 or 4700[edit: or Sram Apex/Rival]) and replace it?
Because of cost (and, if I'm being honest, the faff involved) I would probably want to avoid the last two if at all possible, not to mention I'm not entirely sure whether swapping out levers might actually make a difference if the callipers are the issue. At the same time, the shape of the 5600 levers are really not ergonomic for small hands..