Decent extension levers?

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:39:32 GMT, "Bellsouth Ijit 2.0"

may have said:

You know what I'm talking about. They came on 70s cheapo 10spd bikes. I'm
trying to convert a mtb for touring duty with drop bars, and I want to be
able brake from both the flat part and the drop part, and without installing
inline levers. I have a pair of cheapie extension levers, but they feel
floppy and won't trust them under braking fully loaded. Any company make
higher quality extension levers?

Since these went out of usage with the introduction of aero brakes,
they're pretty much a thing of the past. Anything on the market is
just legacy technology still in production, or NOS stuff that wasn't
sold when they were current. The secondary levers were often called
'suicide levers' in the days when they were common, and not without
reason; few ever got them adjusted to a position where both brake
levers were accessible and reasonably functional.

You're much better off swapping to aero main brake levers with inline
levers for the tops; those can be made to work quite well.

Beware of trying to use roadie aero levers (or inlines, for that
matter) with V-brakes, however. The ratio is wrong. Many regular
cantis will work with them just fine, though.

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Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 said:

They came on 70s cheapo 10spd bikes. I'm
trying to convert a mtb for touring duty with drop bars, and I want to be
able brake from both the flat part and the drop part, and without installing
inline levers. I have a pair of cheapie extension levers, but they feel
floppy and won't trust them under braking fully loaded. Any company make
higher quality extension levers?

I'm not sure if the top-mount levers here are what you mean by "inline
levers." If not, some of these will work for you:
http://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/topmountlevers.html
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Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 said:

You know what I'm talking about. They came on 70s cheapo 10spd bikes. I'm
trying to convert a mtb for touring duty with drop bars, and I want to be
able brake from both the flat part and the drop part, and without installing
inline levers. I have a pair of cheapie extension levers, but they feel
floppy and won't trust them under braking fully loaded. Any company make
higher quality extension levers?

Nope. Because they're flexy and sloppy, they're not safe, and therefore
not used anymore.

I don't know what you have against "inline" (cyclocross?) levers -- they
work really well and are easy enough to set up.

Matt O.

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 said:

They came on 70s cheapo 10spd bikes. I'm
trying to convert a mtb for touring duty with drop bars, and I want to be
able brake from both the flat part and the drop part, and without installing
inline levers. I have a pair of cheapie extension levers, but they feel
floppy and won't trust them under braking fully loaded. Any company make
higher quality extension levers?

I'm not sure if the top-mount levers here are what you mean by "inline
levers." If not, some of these will work for you:
http://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/topmountlevers.html

I have a set of these:
http://tinyurl.com/ympuzo

I say run wild and blow $15. You might like them.

Matt O'Toole said:

Nope. Because they're flexy and sloppy, they're not safe, and therefore
not used anymore.

I don't know what you have against "inline" (cyclocross?) levers -- they
work really well and are easy enough to set up.

I had a set of Weinmann levers on my last bike that weren't sloppy and
served me well for several years. And I rode that bike on the tops a
lot, too.

I put cyclocross levers on my new bike, and while they're great. they
also take up more bar space. I had to get really creative to get a
handlebar bag, computer, and bell on the bike, and coudn't have a light
on at the same time as the bag. I ended up mounting a second stem and a
'utility bar'.