Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - brake cable ruins my grip

god i am so tired of this stupid cable that cant be routed comfortably. i guess its either take the brake off or find a new system. right now i have profile airwings and a shimano 105 lever fixed on the underside upside down. any ideas?

I prefer this cyclocross lever setup rather than having a lever at or near the end of a bullhorn...

god i am so tired of this stupid cable that cant be routed comfortably. i guess its either take the brake off or find a new system. right now i have profile airwings and a shimano 105 lever fixed on the underside upside down. any ideas?

I have a similar set up but find it comfortable. How is it routed?

its routed underneath the bar tape. oftentimes on short rides i like to keep my hands close to the stem. i just dont like feeling the cable there. i guess i could avoid the problem by runnoing the cable straight from the lever to the brake without running it under the tape, but that bugs me too. i want to route it internally and not see or feel the cable at all.

fixer: i like that setup but my bars have more drop to them and it seems like a bmx/cross brake would get in the way?

i am just picky. maybe i could attach a brake lever to the downtube...

by the way, what kind of bar tape do you use george? is it the tape or just your meticulously perfect wrapping that always makes those pics so striking?

its routed underneath the bar tape. oftentimes on short rides i like to keep my hands close to the stem. i just dont like feeling the cable there. i guess i could avoid the problem by runnoing the cable straight from the lever to the brake without running it under the tape, but that bugs me too. i want to route it internally and not see or feel the cable at all.

fixer: i like that setup but my bars have more drop to them and it seems like a bmx/cross brake would get in the way?

i am just picky. maybe i could attach a brake lever to the downtube...

The only other alternative that I can think of would be to route it inside your bars and where it would come out at the end, heavily tape it there and then weave it out from under your tape job.

For what it's worth.

Do your bars have grooves in them? If they're the same Profiles as mine, they'll have two holes and a groove. Aero levers aren't best for them, I found a bar end lever works much better.

by the way, what kind of bar tape do you use george?
The tapes I use are those old styled vinyl tapes. No one seems to make them any more. I find them from time to time on Ebay, brand new.

George

Do your bars have grooves in them? If they're the same Profiles as mine, they'll have two holes and a groove. Aero levers aren't best for them, I found a bar end lever works much better.

they have only a short groove along the bend. the way i have the brake lever i cant run the cable along the groove. but the groove stops at the flat part of the bars so even if i were able to guide the cable in it, it wouldnt fix the problem.
where are the holes supposed to be? i dont think mine have holes. they are older bars, although they look like the airwings with a 10 degree drop. i am actually looking for some bullhorns that are more narrow and have more of a drop. maybe the syntace 15 degree bars. im guessing that most bullhorns have these holes for aero lever cable routing? but even with an aero lever/barcon you still have to route cable under the bartape, right?

im starting to think that i should just use a cx brake like in georges pic and then i can leave it at home most of the time. i rarely ever use my brake anyway..

wouldnt it be cool to have a brake like a downtube shifter? kinda like the emergency brake on a car. might be kinda neat.



The tapes I use are those old styled vinyl tapes. No one seems to make them any more. I find them from time to time on Ebay, brand new.

really? it looks so much thicker than the vinyl that ive seen. any particular brand? actually there is some on ebay right now (japanese vinyl tape) and it is so thin its transluscent. surely thats not what you are using in the picture above..

I prefer this cyclocross lever setup rather than having a lever at or near the end of a bullhorn...


i have a similar set-up with a bmx lever in roughly the same spot on my 'bullhorns'. i've tried other configurations, and this seems best so far. but all of them involve compromise of some sort.

-rob