Weird CX brake lever problem

[takai]

Ok, on my bitza commuter i have a pair of Kore CX levers in 31.8 i have had lying around for a fair while, and paired them with a cheap pair of Pro-Lite Vercelli 31.8 bars that i picked up from CRC ( http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=68379 ) when i was trying to figure out which style of bars i was after (and who can argue with $7 for bars)

Now my problem is that the ProLites are 31.8 through the clamp, but only have about 10mm either side of the clamp area which is 31.8, and after that they taper down to standard bar size (26mm?) Except that the taper is exceedingly long, and so mounting the brake lever at the 26mm point means that half of the lever sits outside of the bars.

Anyone know if there is a way of mounting the CX levers half way down the taper? I was thinking a tapered shim, but that would need to be relatively precise with the taper. Rubber is likely to slip i think as well after compression. Plus if i have the CX levers clamped on that ~10mm either side of the stem then the cables get tangled with each other and its a pain (plus not being symmetrical, one side needs to be higher).

I know new bars would fix this problem, but im trying to keep the bike cheap and cheerful

Thoughts? Suggestions? Should i just go find new bars?

[drubie]

Just wind on some electrical tape - make it fatter where the taper is increased. The levers themselves don't need to be mounted super rigid, as long as they don't rotate too much you should be golden.

[takai]

Electrical tape is a no go. Its not the rotation but the leverage. The act of pulling on the lever slowly works them "down" the taper and so off the ET.