Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Am I ******** or is it my brake lever?

I just got a crane creek brake lever from bike island.

http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=177

I bought the 24-26mm size. On the box it say 24-26mm as well.

For the life of me I can not fit these things on my bars. My bars are Nitto b-201's. 25.4mm. The clamp on the brake lever is not even coming close to fitting on my bars. Am I doing something wrong? I took out the 3mm bolt, attach to bar tighten it all the way and its not even close to staying put.

I think Bike Island maybe mislabeled the lever and sent me the bigger size.

I just got a crane creek brake lever from bike island.

http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=177

I bought the 24-26mm size. On the box it say 24-26mm as well.

For the life of me I can not fit these things on my bars. My bars are Nitto b-201's. 25.4mm. The clamp on the brake lever is not even coming close to fitting on my bars. Am I doing something wrong? I took out the 3mm bolt, attach to bar tighten it all the way and its not even close to staying put.

I think Bike Island maybe mislabeled the lever and sent me the bigger size.

25.4 refers to the clamp size on the bar. The b-201 tapers down from the clamp to the bar, so the bar itself is going to be <25.4mm

Measure the bar itself with some calipers. I bet it's a good bit smaller than 25.4

probably made for a 26.0 bar... where on the bar are you trying to clamp this? should be relatively close to the stem, correct? maybe use a shim if it's close?

As mentioned you can use a shim or... use a small hunk of bar tape on the bar to make the lever fit. Worked great for me.

Sounds like they might have sent you 31.8mm levers.

there would be a lot of space if they sent you a 31.8. if you mount it on the bulge of the bars over some hockey tape or something it should be fine.

i used a few wraps of electrical tape to make mine fit nice and snug

well i ended up going to a bike shop. the tech and i could not figure out a proper or safe way to mount it. basically you could slide the level right on without any friction when it was suppose to be completely closed. he hooked me up with some old lever he took off of a conversion bike for a dollar. its pretty funny looking but works fine. i'll probably pick up something sleeker looking at some point.

does anyone know a brake lever that will work with my bars (Nitto b201 risers).

EDIT: by the way when we measured the bar it was like 22.2 or something (22 and change i forget). that is probably why the crane creek did not fit.

put the lever on your top tube

put the lever on your top tube

Haha, Toptube brake FTW!!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wb8bAl1P-N0/SjuHVOtDJzI/AAAAAAAAIGg/zdOSCsFw5hQ/s400/globe.jpg

i just ordered a odyssey mono lever for 18 bucks. i will return the crane creek.

basically what i did not realize is when ordering the crane creek is that the width was referring to where the lever gets clamped, not the bar size (where the bar meets the stem). my bar size is 25.4 but the diameter where the lever is needed is 22.2. so what i really needed is a 7/8" or 22.2mm lever for my bars. my nitto risers are basically bmx bars and this is the standard diameter needed for bmx bars.

good news is i can return my crane creek levers and save 12 bucks by just getting the monolever.

Glad you figured it out. As a minor spelling point that happens to drive me crazy, it's "cane" and not "crane."