Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Thumb shifter as a brake lever?

Saw a cool fixie the other day where some had modified a thumb shifter (or something similar) to use as a brake lever. It looked really stealth as you could just barely notice the shifter lever behind the bars.

Any idea what this could have been or how to do this? Not quite too sure how it even functioned but it was definitely being used as a front brake lever.

Sadly I don't have pictures.

Using a friction shifter or a barcon/downtube style shifter all you would need to do is run a shifter cable to your brakes instead of a brake cable. The cable is a thinner diameter but its the head that is the key difference. Pulling back on the shifter would then act as a brake. Not sure how much I would trust a cheesy plastic thumbshifter but with a barcon I suppose it may work ok.

I wonder if you'll have enough leverage to make that effective.

If/when you figure it out, please post more info. I'm just curious how you could pull the necessary amount of cable to brake effectively.

Actually one of the bike mechanics I know uses a bar end shifter as a brake lever on his fixxie. He says back in the days that was the way they do it on the West Coast. The BMX style lever up close by the stem was the East Coast way according to him. He claims he has enough leverage to stop, but not enough to fly over the handlebars. Seems like a smart concept to me.

I've heard of it, and wanted to do it. I just never could find any quality 'thumbies' before I removed the brake altogether.

Usually any bike shop has a bunch of old used ones. You can get them on ebay for about 5 buck too. Suntour or shimano work well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36140&item=3697337877&rd=1

I've been told this can be done with an indexed shifter to put a small level of constant braking to the wheel when going down large hills (we've got a few here). Makes sense to me.

I think that could get a bit toasty...
Doesn't sound terribly safe in all circumstances, either, but thats just the way I roll.

Yeah, I could imagine pushing it one click too far by accident and ending up on your face since it won't automatically recoil...

Arsbars has this on her bike. She posted a picture and how she did the install somewhere on BF. Search away...

we have an old tandem in my shop's warehouse that uses a barcon to actuate a rear drum brake. it's a pretty sick bike too...gitane frame with phil wood hubs, some XT/XTR stuff with old sugino cranks.

We had an indexing barcon on our R&E tandem with a Phil rear drum brake. Worked great on steep decents and allowd my stoker to control some of the fear factor. I do not think I would do the same on a front brake.

Damn, I miss that bike...