Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Front Brake

Well, I sprained my ankle and decided that I should finally shell out the dough to put on a front brake. It's killing me to not be riding my bike on a daily basis so I need to get one on there fast. Couple questions. I have nitto b123 bars. What levers will fit on my bars without modification? What are the differences I'm going to see between a caliper and a cantilever? I've got 700 x 28c wheels if that helps at all. I'm looking to do this for fairly cheap so please keep that in mind.

If this is a road bike then I'm guessing you don't have canti bosses on your fork so you're looking at a caliper brake. Tektro make some ok brakes for cheap and you can always find nice single/dual pivot brakes for cheap second hand (depending on where you live). Nashbar et al often have their own brand cheap brakes as well. Dual pivot brakes are the easiest to deal with IMHO.

You just need to ensure that the reach of the brake is sufficient for your frame; measure the distance perpendicular from center of brake bolt hole in fork crown to middle of rim braking surface. This is the 'reach' and is usually given in mm. Short reach brakes are around 39-49mm and standard reach is around 47-57mm

As for a brake lever, you have a bunch of options. Either use road style levers or use a cyclocross/top of bar style lever. For the later, you can find either cyclocross levers, some mtb (as long as their small) and some bmx levers will work on the Nitto bars.

Most road levers have 'adjustable' clamps that should work on the 123s, but I haven't tried it personally. Easiest way is to borrow/beg one from someone and just see if it works. You may need a shim.

Use the search function to look at all the threads about brake levers, lots of them talk about Nitto 123s as well as lever options ie:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=136788&highlight=brake+lever
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=132854&highlight=brake+lever
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=124817&highlight=brake+lever
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=142685&highlight=brake+lever

bmx lever, tektro brakes...cheap...effective...just my 2cents

you can always try to grab a brake on ebay. I got mine really cheap

also think about where you place your hands when you're riding in places you're likely to want to brake. If you're always in the drops, it's best to get a road lever that you can use in the drops; if you ride up top in traffic, get a bmx or xc lever.