bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
-
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:38 pm
bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby emilmh » Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:43 pm
What do i need to look for if i want to fit bmx style brake levers to a set of road 'drop' bars (or even bullhorns)? Are most standard bmx levers big enough to slide on teh drop bars and through the curves? or do i need something special (like levers with bar clamps that open up or something)?
Cheers,
Emil
- familyguy
- Posts: 8381
- Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:30 pm
- Location: Willoughby, NSW
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby familyguy » Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:56 pm
Jim
-
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:38 pm
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby emilmh » Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:19 pm
thanks for the advise, sorry to hear about your bad luck.familyguy wrote:BMX and MTB levers are usually 22.2mm. Roadie bars are usually 23.8mm at the narrowest. Ask me how I know...and why I have 3 brake levers sitting idle. You'll need to make sure anything you buy fits road bar diameter.
Jim
I see so many fixies with bmx style brakes, do they buy them specifically for them?
-
- Posts: 10330
- Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:10 pm
- Location: Sydney
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby Nobody » Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:38 pm
http://www.paulcomp.com/elever.htmlemilmh wrote:thanks for the advise, sorry to hear about your bad luck.familyguy wrote:BMX and MTB levers are usually 22.2mm. Roadie bars are usually 23.8mm at the narrowest. Ask me how I know...and why I have 3 brake levers sitting idle. You'll need to make sure anything you buy fits road bar diameter.
Jim
I see so many fixies with bmx style brakes, do they buy them specifically for them?
-
- Posts: 581
- Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:07 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby .isaac. » Thu Oct 14, 2010 6:58 am
Do these work well if you need to change from drops to top bar to get to them?Nobody wrote: http://www.paulcomp.com/elever.html
-
- Posts: 10330
- Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:10 pm
- Location: Sydney
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby Nobody » Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:38 am
If you want drop bar levers for linear pull (V) brakes then I do use the ones below and like them for both hoods and drops braking. (I actually have the Cane Creek re-badged ones at twice the price. From what I've read, they are the same. The CC ones even have the Tektro model number stamped on inside of the lever handle.)
http://www.this link is broken/Mode ... elID=34840
-
- Posts: 581
- Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:07 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby .isaac. » Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:55 am
- boyracer
- Posts: 793
- Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:29 pm
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby boyracer » Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:32 am
I have milled out the clamp on plenty of these. or just patience and a rat tail file.familyguy wrote:BMX and MTB levers are usually 22.2mm. Roadie bars are usually 23.8mm at the narrowest. Ask me how I know...and why I have 3 brake levers sitting idle. You'll need to make sure anything you buy fits road bar diameter.
Jim
- surfin' addiction
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:26 pm
- Location: Melbourne's notorious eastern suburbs.
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby surfin' addiction » Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:50 pm
I run one of these http://tektro.com/02products/11ql.php on my bullhorns. It was a touch too big for the bars so I had to use a thin piece of rubber that actually came with on my Cateye computers for the same purpose to fill out the clamp. These actually have a hinged clamp too which is handy if you need to remove it for anything but don't wanna remove bar tap.
I had originally wanted them in just silver as I saw them on a Masi fixed gear as an OEM part but no one stocked them and those that had the black and silver ones told me I would not be able to source all silver. But after some asking around on eBay I found a group in the states that can supply all silver from Tektro as a special order, but the lead time was 45 days. So in the end I just bought black and silver through my LBS.
Whips: Merida Racelite 905, Apollo Record Track, Norco Sasquatch.
-
- Posts: 1000
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:13 pm
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby Uncle Grumpy » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:20 pm
Silver levers = Pretty anno levers + oven cleaner + polishing + time.surfin' addiction wrote:I have found most bike stores that stock single finger levers and the like usually only have them in bright annodised colours or all black, which for my wasn't what I was looking for.
Sometimes you just gotta get your hands dirty to get what you really want.
And then after investing all that time and effort, you find what you were looking for on eBay after all.
Grumps
- Stonedpirate, June 2010
- surfin' addiction
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:26 pm
- Location: Melbourne's notorious eastern suburbs.
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby surfin' addiction » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:26 pm
I have been down this street before with car parts and some bike parts. It was ok when I was still at Uni and had nothing better to do except sit around, drink beer and polish parts. And you could always find someone that was willing to help when paid in beers too. But now I have become part of the corporate machine free time is a bit more golden. So things like riding bikes, surfing and snowboarding take priority over polishing parts that can, as you said, be found on eBay.Uncle Grumpy wrote:Silver levers = Pretty anno levers + oven cleaner + polishing + time.surfin' addiction wrote:I have found most bike stores that stock single finger levers and the like usually only have them in bright annodised colours or all black, which for my wasn't what I was looking for.
Sometimes you just gotta get your hands dirty to get what you really want.
And then after investing all that time and effort, you find what you were looking for on eBay after all.
Grumps
Whips: Merida Racelite 905, Apollo Record Track, Norco Sasquatch.
-
- Posts: 3493
- Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:39 pm
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby rustychisel » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:51 pm
If you have to keep it clean, then chopped and flopped drop bars with a centre finger lever works well, but there are other things to take into account with bar positioning, namely stem length and height of the bars.
-
- Posts: 3646
- Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:23 pm
- Location: Adelaide N/E
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby brauluver » Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:15 pm
Testify!rustychisel wrote:Evil genius and others, the single best reason for using proper levers on drop bars, as shown by Nobody, is that they give you good hand positioning on the bars. A centremounted BMX lever or finger lever is great, especially for traffic jamming, but takes away that hand support that 2 brake levers give you. If you can ride in the drops (like track racing) or just with your hands on the tops, fine, but trust me, you'll find you want the alternate hand position if you do any kind of real riding.
Amen brother.
Drop style bars(on road) without hoods is like chips without salt!
Different scenario on a track specific bike though.
Go risers or bullhorns if riding the flats is your preference.
-
- Posts: 161
- Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:44 pm
- Location: Nth Carlton
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby j-ho » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:19 pm
Go and see sasha at pony bikes in west melb. She has the smaller typr brsakes you are after, and will strip and polish a black one for a very minimal fee.surfin' addiction wrote:I have been down this street before with car parts and some bike parts. It was ok when I was still at Uni and had nothing better to do except sit around, drink beer and polish parts. And you could always find someone that was willing to help when paid in beers too. But now I have become part of the corporate machine free time is a bit more golden. So things like riding bikes, surfing and snowboarding take priority over polishing parts that can, as you said, be found on eBay.Uncle Grumpy wrote:Silver levers = Pretty anno levers + oven cleaner + polishing + time.surfin' addiction wrote:I have found most bike stores that stock single finger levers and the like usually only have them in bright annodised colours or all black, which for my wasn't what I was looking for.
Sometimes you just gotta get your hands dirty to get what you really want.
And then after investing all that time and effort, you find what you were looking for on eBay after all.
Grumps
- surfin' addiction
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:26 pm
- Location: Melbourne's notorious eastern suburbs.
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby surfin' addiction » Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:39 pm
Whips: Merida Racelite 905, Apollo Record Track, Norco Sasquatch.
-
- Posts: 581
- Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:07 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby .isaac. » Fri Oct 22, 2010 6:29 am
Does anyone know if I can buy those specialized brake separately to the bike? If I can't where can I find some in Melb that are good quality?
EDIT- I found the brakes on the Specialized site. Sadly they don't sell in Aus.
- Mulger bill
- Super Mod
- Posts: 29060
- Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:41 pm
- Location: Sunbury Vic
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby Mulger bill » Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:01 am
Shaun
London Boy 29/12/2011
-
- Posts: 581
- Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:07 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby .isaac. » Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:14 am
- jimsheedy
- Posts: 820
- Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:01 pm
- Location: Sydney
Re: bmx/mtb brake levers for road bars
Postby jimsheedy » Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:41 am
Return to “Fixed Gear/ Single Speed”
- General Australian Cycling Topics
- Info / announcements
- Buying a bike / parts
- General Cycling Discussion
- The Bike Shed
- Cycling Health
- Cycling Safety and Advocacy
- Women's Cycling
- Bike & Gear Reviews
- Cycling Trade
- Stolen Bikes
- Bicycle FAQs
- The Market Place
- Member to Member Bike and Gear Sales
- Want to Buy, Group Buy, Swap
- My Bikes or Gear Elsewhere
- Serious Biking
- Audax / Randonneuring
- Retro biking
- Commuting
- MTB
- Recumbents
- Fixed Gear/ Single Speed
- Track
- Electric Bicycles
- Cyclocross and Gravel Grinding
- Dragsters / Lowriders / Cruisers
- Children's Bikes
- Cargo Bikes and Utility Cycling
- Road Racing
- Road Biking
- Training
- Time Trial
- Triathlon
- International and National Tours and Events
- Cycle Touring
- Touring Australia
- Touring Overseas
- Touring Bikes and Equipment
- Australia
- Western Australia
- New South Wales
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Victoria
- ACT
- Tasmania
- Northern Territory
- Country & Regional
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users
- All times are UTC+10:00
- Top
- Delete cookies
About the Australian Cycling Forums
The Australian Cycling Forums is a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.
Bicycles Network Australia
Forum Information
Connect with BNA
This website uses affiliate links to retail platforms including ebay, amazon, proviz and ribble.