Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Dummy TT lever on FGG: Why?

So on today's Fixed Gear Gallery, there's a Ciocc with two time-trial levers (that's what they're called, right? The ones that go in the end of the bars and stick back toward the front?), but only one brake. I know that people like to put two road levers on sometimes, so they can rest their hand on the hood of the extra lever, and I could see putting front and rear brakes on a bike if you might run it freewheel sometimes. But two TT levers for one brake? What gives, Sean from Indianapolis?

http://static.flickr.com/48/151166875_1a8d291b84_o.jpg

Just a guess: Some people are anal about symmetry? Maybe they're afraid the bike would be pulling left alla time from the extra wind resistance on the left side? Maybe he thinks it won't balance right with hose extra 40 grams on the left?

What's that ice pick looking thing on the stem?

edit: I just noticed he has those snazzy chrome plated clamp on cable guides on the top tube, so maybe he runs a brake for SS, and pulls it for fixed. Not sure why you'd bother pulling the brake though if yer gonna leave the lever and the cable guides. Maybe he's just afraid of being laughed at for having a rear brake on a fixed.

You're pointing at the wrong lever.

maybe the bars came off another bike and they didn't yet take the right brake lever off?

the icepick is a mystery to me

What's that ice pick looking thing on the stem?

good question. i'm confused. i would NOT want to move forward for a skid with that dealie on my bike.

You're pointing at the wrong lever.

Yeah. All that exploratory exposition for nothing. Life sucks.:)

What's that ice pick looking thing on the stem?
Suicide stem.

Castrater?

good question. i'm confused. i would NOT want to move forward for a skid with that dealie on my bike.

Look at the whole picture. he has toeclips without straps. No skidding will be happening with that setup.

Man, I really hate to comment on these FGG threads ('cause I hate hating), but they get wackier and wackier all the time.

I will give the bike owner credit for not filing off the cable guides.

What gives, Sean from Indianapolis?
why don't you email him? fgg always (annoyingly) gives out email addresses...

Its all about symmetry, if he's like me, he can't stand when things look unbalanced.

I'd like to see whathappens when that lever catches on something, or someone.

I think I will e-mail him. What I secretly want is for him to have it hooked up so that both levers activate the front brake (see here (http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/resources/stevens/brakes.htm)). I understand that in theory there might be a time when you find yourself with one hand on the bars and an immediate need to brake, but that strikes me as such a remote possibility as to be negligible, plus the fact that if you're braking that hard on short notice with only one hand on the bars means that something's gonna go wrong. Anyway, I'll let youse know what Sean says (if anything).

i thought about the two-lever-to-one-brake thing, too, but there's only one cable in that picture.

It could be for something we can't see - maybe rigged to a bell or to fire that laser attatched to the stem.

That 1955 Mercian posted today is sick. I love vintage/modern bastard bikes.

Regardless of whatever is on the stem and the TT levers, that frame is badass. Ciocc frames are one of the very few things I regularly check eblo for. Someday I will have one.

What's that ice pick looking thing on the stem?

It looks like a padlock with a very long shackle.

your bike must be the one with the dual cranksets then



Its all about symmetry, if he's like me, he can't stand when things look unbalanced.

Sean explains the extra lever:

"It has been off and on several times. The deciding factor was that I spent $29.00 on a brake lever that only comes as a pair. My way of getting the most out of my investment was to mount them both. Let them know the ice pic, castrator thingy on the stem is a Master Lock ulock from the local hardware store."

Thanks Ya Tu Sabes (and Sean). Yeah, it really makes a lot more sense to just put the lever on your bike and not have it do anything than put it in a drawer somewhere and lose it. This way he always knows where it is, and the only people who get uptight about it are dorks on the internet.