Hi Ted, It's 100% the reach! for a small person, there are a couple factors. Mostly, their arms just aren't long enough to significantly change their position laterally -- any lateral/horizontal change involves stretching their arms out, increasing the shoulder angle. And the Noodles are so very long that it really makes reaching/using the brakes difficult. Second, their hands tend to be much smaller, reducing any possible benefit to a long, flat position.
My client had actually been using the drops the entire time she'd had the bike, but that was because of the Technomic stem -- it just put the handlebars way too high (because on a small bike you can't insert a quill stem very far). Might not have been a problem if the bike had been set up with North Road or similar handlebars, and she were riding it like a town bike, but she wanted a road set-up. (We found her a shorter extension (60mm) Technomic Deluxe (190mm total quill length) stem, and combined with Soma Hwy One in an appropriate width she's comfortable on the ramps, in the drops, and can reach and use the brakes no problem. I'm sure there's someone out there that these bars are perfect for! Liz Washington, DC On Sunday, September 7, 2025 at 10:29:34 PM UTC-4 Ted Durant wrote: > On Sunday, September 7, 2025 at 8:26:20 AM UTC-5 Elisabeth Sherwood wrote: > > Pro tip: Nitto Noodles generally do not belong anywhere near a bike being > used by someone 5'2"! :-) > > > That's an interesting observation. Is it because of the reach (95mm) and > drop (140mm)? Those are long by current standards. I recently saw a picture > on IG of an old Italian racing bike and it made me laugh. The reach and > drop on the bars must have been in the 200mm range. > > I'm 5' 6" (maybe not quite, anymore, after a couple of compression > fractures :-), and Noodles (in 40cm) are on almost all of my bikes. For me, > the reach and especially the drop are important features, as I really like > having a significant difference between my positions. But I have a fairly > decent amount of hip flexibility in that direction and can ride a long time > with a low, flat back. > > I also find that the brake lever choice makes a huge difference. SRAM > double-tap brifters are super long and designed for sitting under your > entire hand, adding a good centimeter or two of effective reach compared > to, say, the Shimano SLR brake levers that Riv has sold for ages. Noodle > bars with SRAM brifters for somebody who is already struggling to get a > short enough reach to the bars would, indeed, be a problem! > > I'd be interested in the bars if I hadn't 1) bought up all I could find > last year, and 2) just dropped one bike from the inventory. :-) > > Ted Durant > Milwaukee, WI USA > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/92bacb23-c5c9-4a77-b7a2-e9386885c0afn%40googlegroups.com.
