Time trial brake levers

The Rookie

OK, left field 'blue sky thinking' thought...

I have a flat barred Hybrid and was thinking (never a good idea) that some time trial brake levers mounted in the end of the bars would be good for commuting (less good for leaning on a rough brick wall probably though!) as it would add an element of hand protection and they are lighter than most normal levers.

However a cursory look (at pictures on ebay!) suggests the cable routes to the lever up the inside of the mounting bar, can anyone confirm this?

Or am I just barking mad to even think about doing something like this?

Simon

scrumpydave

Wow! What a suggestion. The TT levers I have don't have to be routed inside the bars. In fact the bars need to have a hole in them in order to route internally as far as I know (i.e. cable comes out of brake and enters bars immediately through a hole).

Still, to me it sounds like a crazy idea. You might have brake compatibility issues if you're not using caliper brakes, and I fail to see how they would offer much in the way of hand protection (unless you were going down a slalom run).

I think the weight thing is a red herring because if you cared that much about it you'd have a lighter bike!

Apart from the above this strikes me as exactly the sort of thing I would attempt.

nicklouse

many do have internal routing.

SBezza

Some have totally internal routing, but I think most have the cable outside of the bar where it joins the lever itself.

Why you think these will provide any element of hand protection compared to normal flat bar brake levers I am not sure.

Also one other thing to think about is the internal diameter of the bars, TT brake levers only generally fit one size, can't remember what that is though.

The Rookie

OK, some food for thought!

The protection comes from having the mounting piece sticking forward outside my hands not inside, my bar ends are the right diameter according to a couple of spec sheets, but yes I suspect the lever ratio will be wrong as I'm using V-levers for mech discs, blast - that was looking fun!

Its a curse being an engineer, you keep trying to think of ways to make the bike better, for example I'm trying to see if I can route the front brake cable through the fork leg, using the leg as the stressed part so I can delete some outer cable to save weight! Less mad is I'm getting some cable stops turned in Nylon so the full length rear outer can be reduced to the more normal 3 short sections!

I know my bike is a little heavy, but if i reduce the weight of everything else, then I can later get a lighter frame as well, it's all small steps!

Simon