I have been commuting in this crap snow/rain/ice mix all winter and the braking situation is getting tiring.
To try and fix this I put a new set of handlebars of the Bianchi Casto Valley commuter. I wanted something a little more upright and with the ability to use mtn levers, cool old suntours mtn levers…
I opted for the Milan Bar from Velo Orange . It fits mountain bike size levers and shifters. It requires the use of a nitto shim, or a coke can shim.
This is my usual winter commuter glove, a REI Primaloft mitt. My hands get cold… especially leaving my house at 6:30am to head in to work. I was having a problem braking with the road levers and this seems to work much better. Although to be honest it could have been the insane amount of road salt and grime stuck in my cables…
And the maiden voyage included a stop down to the recycling center to drop off the last two months worth of cardboard. It is secured with a generic rear rack cargo net, I got mine from Velo Orange as well. It worked just fine.