Braking on a road bike

[Julia9054]

Had the same issue with my first road bike earlier this year. I angled my handlebars slightly upwards so I could get a bit more leverage (small hands) and then just got used to the feel of them. They do feel different to the brakes on my hybrid but I think its a case of getting to know your bike.

 

[Broadside]

@0-markymark-0 , my road bike has much less stopping power than my 20 year old mountain bike, but I can still lock the rear wheel on the road bike or bring it to a stop using the front brake with the rear wheel off the ground so there is still plenty of power available.

What STI's do you have? I ask because I recently took some good callipers off my road bike which always hard a sharp feel and put them on to my wife's bike (I was upgrading the callipers on my bike). After the callipers were put on her bike the braking with them became quite spongey because the Shimano 2300 shifters pull a different amount of cable than the Shimano 105 shifters on my bike which are Super SLR. You could also call the spongey feel progressive and luckily it suits my wife as with slightly weaker hands there is less resistance on the brake levers so she likes them like that.

 

[MikeW-71]

Proper Shimano calipers are much more effective than some Tektro ones, in my experience at least. The Tektro ones I once had felt spongy...

I have found this too since getting my new roadie with 105 calipers

 

[Hacienda71]

I tend to find the pads make more difference than the calipers. Although the higher end calipers tend to weigh a lot less while still giving the same level of leverage.

 

[Deleted member 22722]

I have found this too since getting my new roadie with 105 calipers

Definitely have to agree. I was really surprised how much better my brakes were when I changed from the cheaper Tektro calipers to the Shimano 105's. I was already running with Koolstop Salmons and never felt confident with the brakes till I switched the calipers.

Probably the best upgrade i've made to my bike so far.