Bicycle Mechanics - Flat bar break levers vs drop bar levers

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shenanigans
06-27-07, 08:01 AM
Ok,My bike(with drop bars) needs break levers(yard sale,didn't have any in the first place),and I have an old mountain bike laying around with some on it.Can I just put these on?I was looking at pictures of similar bikes compared to mine(for handlebars at least),and they seem to have the cable coming out of the side of the break lever,or something.Do you think it going to look overly weird putting on the levers ment for flat bars? :(

JanMM
06-27-07, 08:46 AM
B-R-A-K-E-S.
It would look weird and likely wouldn't work very well. Altho, it might work.
n4zou
06-27-07, 11:02 AM
Unless the drop bars are very old the brake levers from the MTB bike will not fit, as the tubing on modern drop bars is larger in diameter. Having said that I have seen brake levers from an old bike used on very old steel drop bars. The person riding the bike had to go on the drops to use the brakes. It also made the bike look terrible. If you must use the brake levers from the MTB bike you might consider using the handlebar from the MTB bike as well. I have converted many older road bikes by removing the drop bars and stem and installing straight handlebars and MTB stem allowing a comfortable ride. Considering all these riders just want to cruse the MUP at slow speeds this conversion does make a lot of sense. Bike manufactures have picked up on this and you can purchase road bikes with straight bars and MTB type brake levers and shifters installed on them.