One lever braking

s-worksenduro
s-worksenduro Posts: 172
edited August 2008 in Workshop
Hi all, need your help with this one, work in an LBS, and have a customer at the moment who is looking to get into road biking as a way of getting fit and possibly to do a few races in the future. The customers right hand has no fingers beyond the first knuckle, therefore using a brake with that hand is out of the question. Does anyone know of a product I could put in the cable of the rear brake to make it operate both? I have seen a product called the Brake Director which would be ideal, but they don't ship to the UK. I have asked her about going to a flat bar with tandem brakes or similar, but she does want the dropped bars. Shifting shouldn't be a problem as we can fit an mtb shifter.

Thanks in advance for any ideas/advice!
2009 Giant Anthem X2
2009 On One Il Pompino in SS CX mode!
2009 Giant Defy 2.5

Comments

  • OnTow
    OnTow Posts: 130
    Many years ago we bought a second hand flat bar bike from a chap with a a single lever operating both brakes. Can't remember where he got it set up though.
    British Cycling's paralympic squad must have had to solve a similar problem - Long shot, but it's got to be worth a call to them.
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    Mm the wrong way round but... http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=155

    may be of interest http://www.mtb-amputee.com/bikemodifications.htm
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    Hi there.

    Could she operate a cross-top lever with her right hand?

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • dombo6
    dombo6 Posts: 582
    How about fitting a second brake lever upside down below the main left-hand lever? She would have room to still hold the drop and could operate the lower lever with ring finger and little finger.
    Otherwise I saw an article in Oct 07 Velo magazine about French amputee road racers, and there was a simple coupling device that took the single cable from the lever on one of the bikes.
    PM me your address and I'll send you the mag - I only got it for the etape entry form.
  • s-worksenduro
    s-worksenduro Posts: 172
    Thanks a lot for the replies everyone, really helpful. I have spoken to the very helpful people at British Cycling and am waiting for one of their tech guys (or gals) or call me back (thanks Ontow for that idea!) I will see if they can help, if not, I may be in touch Dombo to see how they do it on the continent!!

    Again, thanks for the help, speedy replies as well!! Love it!

    Matt
    2009 Giant Anthem X2
    2009 On One Il Pompino in SS CX mode!
    2009 Giant Defy 2.5
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    Framebuilder of note Dave Yates has done a 2-into-1 brake lever conversion in the past, scroll down the following page;

    http://www.daveyatescycles.co.uk/oddsn.htm

    May be worth enquiring further?

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    There was a very fit guy who rode round the Derby area who only had one arm. He used to ride single fixed with just one brake lever but I also saw him riding on gears, so something is possible. Last time I saw him he was waiting at traffic lights doing a very creditable track stand on a geared road bike.

    I understand that, as the law stands, 2 independent brakes are a requirement on bicycles. How that squares with a rider with only one usable hand I don't know. That requirement would seem to rule out 2 brakes operated by one lever but the Jack Taylor tandem we had some years ago had two brakes operated from one lever which had an adaptation to take two sets of cables; it didn't work very well and I discarded it but if needs must ...

    Credit due to your customer for wanting to ride a bike despite the difficulties.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • bill57
    bill57 Posts: 454
    What about this?

    http://www.brakedirector.com/index.htm
  • PapaZita
    PapaZita Posts: 40
    I'd have thought the problem with one lever operating two brakes, however cleverly designed, would be the inability to control front and rear brakes separately. Surely this would be tricky at the best of times, and terrifying in slippery conditions.

    It seems such an obvious answer that it's probably already been discounted, but how about a coaster (back pedal) brake? The problem there might be finding a suitable gearing system. Are the SRAM hubs any good? I'm assuming that modern coaster brakes work better than the one that tried repeatedly to kill me as a child, but perhaps they don't.

    Not sure if this could work, but could there be a way to remove the ratchet from an STI or Ergo lever, and use the downshift action for a brake? Perhaps if coupled with a disc brake you could get a useful amount of braking from not much lever force.

    PZ.

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