As a person with small hands, womens specific brake levers are a must, however, on the Specialised Ruby I have just bought, although Shimano / Specialised have added an insert to shorten the reach, the body of the brakes is the same size as the man's. This means that when I am on the hoods my thumb and forefinger are forced further apart than is comfortable on a long run. I know that this is 'picky' for what otherwise is a great bike, but this must be the same across all road bikes. the analogy on mountain or hybrid bikes would be ws short reach brake levers, with 'fat' grips.

Anyone else out there suffer from the same?

Personally for me i found the drop/reach on the anatomical bars that tend to be supplied with road bikes the biggest problem. I found that if i set up a position that was comfy when riding on the tops, that when i then used the drops they were to low and vise versa.

I would recommend trying DEDA's 215 Shallow bars or the DEDA newton shallow bars. This depends on whether or not you use an oversize stem or not.

The overall reach on these bars is reduced, making it easier to reach the levers whilst on the tops, also the depth of drop is reduced significantly.

I know a couple of men that have also now tried these bars and would never go back.

I have a Specialized Dolce 2005, which came with extra brake levers on the handlebars as standard. I think it's the only model which did. I have small hands and find it difficult to brake using the proper lever. According to my bike shop, extra brake levers can be fitted unless you're using tribars for time trialling. Funnily enough, Matt Seaton went about this very topic a couple of months ago in his 'Two Wheels' column in the Guardian G2 magazine.

Despite being told that the smaller brake levers might not be as efficient as the larger ones, they have so far worked very well.