Secondary brake levers?

graham.

Hi folks.
Thinking of going from straight, to drop bars. I suspect I'd be spending a bit of time "On the hoods" (As I believe it's known.) particulally in trafic to get a more upright position.
Presumably this would lead to reduced access to the brakes. So, secondary levers, good idea or not? They look far better, engineering wise, than those extension levers that were quite popular in the 70's.
Any opinions gratefully recieved.
Cheers for now. Graham.

UndercoverElephant

There's three main positions with drop-bars. In drops, on the hoods and on the tops, only when on the top of the bars can you not brake, and it's usually quite rare that anyone rides like that for long.

On the hoods your anatomical snuffbox (my favourite medical term) surrounds the hoods of the levers and your fingers have plenty of leverage to brake.

cloggsy

UndercoverElephant wrote:

On the hoods your anatomical snuffbox (my favourite medical term) surrounds the hoods of the levers and your fingers have plenty of leverage to brake.

I spend the majority of my rides on the hoods!

Blue Meanie

Can stoppie from the hoods, and secondary brake levers scream newb or tourer and a faff to fit leaving awkward cable routing and less room for bar mounted lights.
Specialized's version comes with a tag that says 'for use only to modulate speed, should not be used'!?

graham.

Thanks for the comments I'm much clearer now.
Only get them if you need them....which you won't! Seems to be the concensus.
Particulally taken with Mr Elephant's " anatomical snuffbox " refference. Got the picture straight away.
Thanks again. Graham.

Confusedboy

My dry weather hack is an 80s era Raliegh Arena with drops and suicide levers. My normal position in traffic is upright with hands on the tops, and I use the suicide levers as the main method of stopping. Works fine. I'm not trying to tell anyone they are the best brakes I've ever used, but, so long as the rims are dry, I can stop ok.

Having said that, and qualifying with the comment that it is many years since I previously owned a bike so equipped and am relying on memory, they are probably the best suicide lever brakes I've ever had and the only ones I remember actually working. My memory is that the others were ok for slowing the bike, but any proper braking required a dive for the main levers. This was always one of my moans about drops in heavy traffic; that in the very conditions where you needed the maximum allround visibility and awareness, your head down riding position, which had been forced on you by the need to cover the brakes, prevented it.

I think you can probably live a happy, fruitful, and potentially longer life without suicide levers.

Specialized Needs

Modern secondary brakes pull direct on the cable. The older 'suicide' levers generally worked by moving the primary levers. Much less efficient than pulling direct on the cable.

That said, if you start general or commute riding without the secondary brakes, my experience is that the user will quickly get to the point where s/he rides in such a way that s/he won't need them, if you see what I mean.

As mentioned above, these secondary brakes are generally also a pain to set up, take up bar space, and (I bet) will lead to you wondering why you bothered.

I have them on my Tricross. I used them a little in the first few weeks when I moved from my flat bar, but now never use them and actually find they can be in the way. My wife had them originally, but chose not to have them on the replacement bike after her bike was stolen a month after she bought it. She is quite happy.

However, you may find them useful...

shouldbeinbed

I have them on my CX and find them perfectly capable of stopping the bike, as SN said they are cable interruptor type so are pulling directly on exactly the same cable as the hood levers are.

they're certainly not suicide levers and can quite happily serve a useful purpose but whether they're necessary long term or not is definitely questionable, if you start without them I doubt you'd feel any sort of need to retro fit them.

mudcow007

i have them on my tricross an they are absolutely pants!

mine seem to have no power whats so ever, im thinking of taking them off but looks messy

in traffic i normally use the hoods.

i was commuting 2 months ago on riser bars so im still getting use to drops

iclestu

got them on my CX and, to be honest, they just take up handlebar room. My CX is my first drop-barred bike and I never really used them straight from the get-go. Only time I have used them is a) to try it out and b) occasionally sat stationary at lights on a hill its easier to sit up a little and use one of them to hold the bike from rolling down the hill rather than one of the main levers but this really is nothing more that a very minor convenience and only rarely used.

Put it this way, if I could click my fingers and they'd no longer be there i'd do it like a shot. It would give me more room for handlebar bag or lights etc and its just not worth it for such a little gain. Im just not really sure how to get rid of them easily!

Avoid them is my advice

andrewjoseph

My wife had a set on her spesh Dolce. On examination I found they do not 'pull' on the cable, they push on the cable outer, makes the brakes activate slightly.

I recommended taking them off, but she wouldn't, feeling they would be useful. I took her out to a quiet bit of road and asked her to try and stop from normal riding speed with them. She made me take them off that afternoon.

notsoblue

Not much to add to what others have said here, other than if you're going from straight to drop bars, don't be too put off by having to make the adjustment to drop bar brakes. Personally I found it quite hard to brake while on the hoods at first, and for a couple of days I'd have to go down onto the drops to brake. But eventually you pick it up and now I spend most of the time on the hoods and can come to a full stop while at speed. You just kinda have to get used to the position.

Specialized Needs

iclestu wrote:

[...] Only time I have used them is [...] occasionally sat stationary at lights on a hill its easier to sit up a little and use one of them to hold the bike from rolling down the hill rather than one of the main levers but this really is nothing more that a very minor convenience and only rarely used.

Ah yes. I do this, too. Just so I don't have to lean forward waiting at lights if I am holding onto street furniture. Not much of a selling point for them, though.

Specialized Needs

andrewjoseph wrote:

On examination I found they do not 'pull' on the cable, they push on the cable outer, makes the brakes activate slightly.

And that's my one new thing learned today

popularname

Hey Graham - I have secondary levers on my touring bike which also doubles as my main commute bike. They're good brakes but i practically never use them. Keep on thinking about taking them off. Partly, that's because I'm a roadie anyway so am comfortable with braking from the hoods. And, as a roadie, I don't like the look - even when the bike is loaded and doing a tour.

As others have said, you'll get used to the hoods pretty fast, so I wouldn't worry.

rolf_f

Specialized Needs wrote:

andrewjoseph wrote:

On examination I found they do not 'pull' on the cable, they push on the cable outer, makes the brakes activate slightly.

And that's my one new thing learned today

A bike I've been renovating uses that approach for the front mech (a Suntour) - the shifter cable is actually fixed at the mech end - pulling the lever causes the cable outer to push against the mech lever - the purpose of this is to reverse the throw; it means that pulling back on either down tube shifter causes the overall gearing to lower - in the case of the front mech, pulling back drops the chain from the large to small chainring. Quite clever really - and logical if you aren't mechincally minded.

Ian.B

I have them on my road bike - no idea why, they weren't part of the official spec for the bike, but the bike was built up with them and a few off spec items and I've always just left them there. To be honest I don't find I use them at all for braking (although they are quite effective, "suicide levers" is an unjustified term for them), but I do find it useful to hold the bike when stopped, as iclestu mentioned.

As my bike is currently stripped down for (amongst other things) recabling, I'm wondering whether to leave them. I think I'll probably leave the front one one because I do use it, but take off the rear one.

rolf_f

Ian.B wrote:

To be honest I don't find I use them at all for braking (although they are quite effective, "suicide levers" is an unjustified term for them), but I do find it useful to hold the bike when stopped, as iclestu mentioned.

What you have (I presume) aren't suicide levers which are as per pic below.

mudcow007

arnt the suicide levers from yesteryear the ones that came around the back the bars from the main brake lever?

that make sense?

an were called suicides because they sheered off in the event of accident?

Specialized Needs

This is what I was thinking of:

Search for "extension levers" on this page on Sheldon's site.

rolf_f

Specialized Needs wrote:

This is what I was thinking of:

Search for "extension levers" on this page on Sheldon's site.

You mean the picture I posted two posts above yours?

rhext

I had them on my Tricross. They worked OK, but they got in the way, so I took them off. I couldn't find a comfortable position for my hands from which I could actually use the secondary brake levers, so to me they seemed supremely useless.

I only use my Tricross on the road, and I suspect they come into their own if it's actually being used offroad as a cyclo-cross bike.

roger_merriman

I have them on my old roadie, what they are handy for is wafting along on the tops and being able to brake.

graham.

Thanks for all the coments chaps.
I'll be picking up the shiney new bike in a couple of days ( ) and I won't be inquireing about them. I'll just see how I go on.
I saw then on a bike in the shop and I thought what an elegent and simple sollution, and I loved the way that the primary brake pulled the inner and the secondary pushed the outer. It all seemed so simple and obvious! (I'm afraid I can be a bit nerdy about such things.).
Anyway, won't be bothering, can't face undoing the tape and like so many say, I'll need the space for lights, GPS thingies, cup holders and so on.
All the best. Graham.