Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Brake Rec.

I want to put a front brake on my Bareknuckle. Which Campy or Shimano brake/road levers are good? If anybody has any experience with brakes from other manufacturers that will be fine too but Campy and Shimano are the only ones I know I can order at my LBS. Thanks.

I've never used a modern aero-road lever (shimano and tektro are what I personally have used) that was bad. I think it would be more of a preference thing on the shape of the hood.

There are also Dia-Compe, Tektro and Cane Creek brake levers. Maybe more, I don't know.

hmm

well, Cane Creek are always nice for just the brake lever aspect. No chance of Tektros? Campagnolo does offer the Record Carbon brake levers still I believe

Back home i would probably buy Cane Creek but here i know I can get Shimano and Campy and ordering stuff at bikeshops here can be a huge hassle I have discovered. I am actually going to pay for the brake and levers with the downpayment I made on an MTB that I thought I ordered a month ago. The shop called me last week to tell me that it would be impossible even though they checked with the distributor multiple times!?! I just decided to spend the money I already gave them on a brake instead.

Also, if you haven't already get a double pivot brake caliper. They are fantastically better than old single pivots. Seriously.

Also, if you haven't already get a double pivot brake caliper. They are fantastically better than old single pivots. Seriously.

No they are not. They are better yes, not fantasticaly. The difference between the single and duals can be entirely eliminated by choosing good brake pads vs bad ones.

if memory serves me right, the cane creek and tektro aero levers are actually the same product. tektro makes some solid and inexpensive interrupter levers for bar-top use, also.

if you happen to have bullhorns, or like the flipped lever thing in drops, the cane creek 200tt lever is awesome. it comes in alloy or carbon lever and you can typically find a pair for 35 bones or less.

The Tiagra brake lever is pretty nice if you are going Shimano. They usually run about $40 but you get cables and housings in the deal.

No they are not. They are better yes, not fantasticaly. The difference between the single and duals can be entirely eliminated by choosing good brake pads vs bad ones.

Well no **** if I put cork brake pads (or some other widely innappropriate pad) on an alum rim it's going to suck balls with a dual pivot.

plus, dual pivots are ugly. my shimano 600 single pivot can make me endo while seated. that is plenty fine.

anyway, if I could have ANY caliper brake in the whole wide world, it would be a mafac compteicion.

+1 on the cane creek/ tektro/ soma aero levers (They're all the same rebadged lever). They are miles better than normal Campy or Shimano hand hatchet style road aero levers because of their ergonomics which are "inspired" by Campy Ergo brifters. There's just a lot more hood there to put your hand on and so less pressure. I rode around for a day with a Dura Ace hood on one side and a Tektro on the other and there's no comparision.

I have an Ultegra caliper with a Forte in-line lever on my Bareknuckle. You would think that a track fork would have tight enough clearance to work with a short reach brake, but it doesn't. The brake hole is drilled pretty high...at least it is on my bareknuckle. The Ultegra brake is barely long enough to reach the rim. In fact, I had to file off the top part of the brake pad to keep it from contacting the tire when I applied the brake. You should probably look for something with a longer reach.

First, note that the adjuster to open the brakes when removing the wheel are different on the Campy vs Shimano. Shimanos are on the brake and the lever stay fixed. Campy/Tektro are on the lever and the calipers stay fixed.

Point being, If you buy a Campy caliper and a shimano style lever, you may not be able to get your tire off w/o pounding it past the brake pads.

Next, Dual Pivot vs Single. Single pivot brakes work well but not as well as Dual pivots. Duals are also way easier to set up since they are far less dependent on cable housing length and spring tension. Duals are easier to adjust so that they hit the rim at the exact same time on both sides which makes for a snappier brake feel.

That said my Dura Ace Lever/Superbe Pro Calipers work great and are lighter than duals. Also, make note that new Campy groups are now coming with **single** pivots in the rear and dual pivots in the front. They ditched the dual pivot design for the rear because it was not needed.

My recomendation would be to stick w/ Shimano/Suntour since it is easier to find good aero brake levers from them than Campy.

Good luck

Also, I have never ridden a properly fitted roadbike with hoods. Right now I have risers and a 120mm stem. This is comfortable but i am fairly stretched out. I would imagine that I will need a shorter stem to accomodate the increased reach that the hoods will add. Am I right? How much shorter should I go?

Are you trying to use road levers on risers or are you swapping the bars. I'm confused. If you keeping the risers, go for cross levers or a bmx lever

Sorry, that wasn't very clear. I will be using regular ergonomic road drops.

Ah, makes sense. Thanks. Really, it's all about the pads, but dual pivots help a bit. I would argue that centerpulls are even better than side pulls. I have one of each on three bikes and it goes dual pivot, center, and then side in the cat of best stoppers. All with kool stop pads.

As for levers, aero or non aero? You can save some cash and maybe get some NOS ones for pretty cheap. Shimano, Weinmann, Dura Ace, etc. There was a shop selling some cheap on clearance, if I'm around there next week, I'll dip in for you and see how much. I think they were gold modolos with black hoods.

Then there is stuff like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Modolo-Professional-GOLD-brake-levers_W0QQitemZ330109719152QQihZ014QQcategoryZ42331QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-R400-Aero-Brake-Lever-Set-1-Pair_W0QQitemZ260108006455QQihZ016QQcategoryZ42331QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-SLR-Exage-Sport-Road-Bike-Aero-Brake-Levers_W0QQitemZ180106200733QQihZ008QQcategoryZ42331QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The Modolos are pretty bling. Let me know about the ones at your shop, I am interested fer sure. If you are thinking of sending them to me keep in mind that I am in Korea which might make this a more complicated transaction.

No they are not. They are better yes, not fantasticaly. The difference between the single and duals can be entirely eliminated by choosing good brake pads vs bad ones.Well no **** if I put cork brake pads (or some other widely innappropriate pad) on an alum rim it's going to suck balls with a dual pivot.

No, Operator means that the brake pads are a lot more important to the performance of the brake than the number/leverage of pivots.

I ride a single pivot Dia Compe and a dual pivot Nashbar brake, and both were virtually worthless with the pads that came on them; I agree completely with operator, both stop as good as a Dura Ace brake with the addition of Dura Ace pads.

PM sent

Singlespeed or fixed? A lot of us have spare parts we could, uh, part with. I've got some nice Shimano non-aero levers you could have if you want.

I've also got a right Suntour GPX lever I'm not using at the moment (using the left one on my fixie), I don't know if I want to hang on to the right one and use them as a pair again later on, but I might be willing to trade them for bullhorn brake levers if you've got some laying around.

Singlespeed or fixed? A lot of us have spare parts we could, uh, part with. I've got some nice Shimano non-aero levers you could have if you want.

I've also got a right Suntour GPX lever I'm not using at the moment (using the left one on my fixie), I don't know if I want to hang on to the right one and use them as a pair again later on, but I might be willing to trade them for bullhorn brake levers if you've got some laying around.

Thanks for the offer but I think Seanee is going to help me out.