bore out brake lever clamps?

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I'm putting moustache bars on a bike currently set up with flat bars
and v-brakes. The moustache bars are MTB stem clamp diameter but road
lever diameter. This is a single-speed errand-runner/townie bike.

I was planning to replace the v-brakes with cantis and use road levers,
or else get some Dia Compe 287-Vs. (I'd rather not use travel agents
just to keep clutter to a minimum.) Obviously the current levers will
not fit on the larger diameter bar.

But now I'm tempted to take a round file and just bore out the v-brake
levers. It seems like I could file away enough material to make them
fit, and it looks like once they're on there they'd work fine in terms
of positioning. There's plenty of material in the clamp area so I
don't think they'd break. Anyone ever try such a thing? Any reason
not to? All this stuff's already there so it would be great if I could
make it work.

Opinions appreciated.

 

[landotter]

[email protected] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm putting moustache bars on a bike currently set up with flat bars
> and v-brakes. The moustache bars are MTB stem clamp diameter but road
> lever diameter. This is a single-speed errand-runner/townie bike.
>
> I was planning to replace the v-brakes with cantis and use road levers,
> or else get some Dia Compe 287-Vs. (I'd rather not use travel agents
> just to keep clutter to a minimum.) Obviously the current levers will
> not fit on the larger diameter bar.
>
> But now I'm tempted to take a round file and just bore out the v-brake
> levers. It seems like I could file away enough material to make them
> fit, and it looks like once they're on there they'd work fine in terms
> of positioning. There's plenty of material in the clamp area so I
> don't think they'd break. Anyone ever try such a thing? Any reason
> not to? All this stuff's already there so it would be great if I could
> make it work.
>

You'll be likely happier with road levers on the inside curve. A lot of
folks seem to be mounting moustache bar levers on the middle of the
curve which is awkward. Nashbar has both their aero brakes and basic
cantis for $15/each. Rebranded Tektro kit, can't beat the value. Or
better yet, see if a local bike collective or even your LBS has some
bits in their bucket. Remember to grab cable hangars if you're going
this route. You'll want one in your headset stack, and for the rear you
can get one that uses the seatpost binder bolt. Have fun.



> Opinions appreciated.

 

[[email protected]]

> >
>
> You'll be likely happier with road levers on the inside curve. A lot of
> folks seem to be mounting moustache bar levers on the middle of the
> curve which is awkward. Nashbar has both their aero brakes and basic
> cantis for $15/each. Rebranded Tektro kit, can't beat the value. Or
> better yet, see if a local bike collective or even your LBS has some
> bits in their bucket. Remember to grab cable hangars if you're going
> this route. You'll want one in your headset stack, and for the rear you
> can get one that uses the seatpost binder bolt. Have fun.
>

Thanks for the answers so far. I actually have a set of the
Nashbar/Tektros but they may stay in the parts stash for a future
project. For reasons I won't bother elaborating mounting a canti
hanger on the front of this bike (either on the fork or the HS) may be
difficult. That makes sense about lever placement too. If I do end up
making the v-brake levers work though sub-optimum placement won't be
too big a deal since this bike will mostly see short trips.

I may just try to widen the clamps since it sounds doable. If it
doesn't work out I can always get the Dia Compe levers or just figure
out my hanger problems and go with cantis.

 

[landotter]

[email protected] wrote:

> I may just try to widen the clamps since it sounds doable. If it
> doesn't work out I can always get the Dia Compe levers or just figure
> out my hanger problems and go with cantis.

What kind of hanger do ya need? There are all sorts of solutions--you
could even mod your stem to act as a hanger like a lot of bikes were
set up in the 80s--you know, drill a housing sized hole up top and a
cable sized hole in the underside.

Also, there's all sorts of clamps.
http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=BR3358

If you insist on mtb levers, flipped over North Road bend bars are a
better choice (in a perfect world).
http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=HB1008

That said, I've done my share of dremeling. Did a bmx stem to accept a
mtb bar. Ugh. Never again.

 

[Mark Hickey]

[email protected] wrote:

>I'm putting moustache bars on a bike currently set up with flat bars
>and v-brakes. The moustache bars are MTB stem clamp diameter but road
>lever diameter. This is a single-speed errand-runner/townie bike.
>
>I was planning to replace the v-brakes with cantis and use road levers,
>or else get some Dia Compe 287-Vs. (I'd rather not use travel agents
>just to keep clutter to a minimum.) Obviously the current levers will
>not fit on the larger diameter bar.
>
>But now I'm tempted to take a round file and just bore out the v-brake
>levers. It seems like I could file away enough material to make them
>fit, and it looks like once they're on there they'd work fine in terms
>of positioning. There's plenty of material in the clamp area so I
>don't think they'd break. Anyone ever try such a thing? Any reason
>not to? All this stuff's already there so it would be great if I could
>make it work.

A couple thoughts...

One, parts manufacturers sell a lot more parts if they're light.
Hence, they tend to build parts that have as little strength margin
beyond "normal use" as practical. Removing material with anything
other than a precision line bore operation will likely create stress
risers in the clamp, potentially leading to a failure. Brake lever
mounts are under little stress JRA (Just Riding Along), and will be at
the maximum stress (most likely to fail) when you're white-knuckling a
panic stop to prevent death and/or dismemberment.

The other option is to use a mini-V brake. Tektro used to make one
that worked well with road levers, and I've heard of others using
their BMX mini-V brakes on road levers. The Tektro mini-V brakes are
what I use on my own personal 'cross bike (see
http://www.habcycles.com/cross.html )

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

 

[Donald Gillies]

I am not sure what kind of mounting system your brakes use, but there
exist brake levers that accept several sizes of clamps, i.e. :

http://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi?c=Brake&sc=Lever Band&id=80494246443

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA