jyl

I just wrapped my bars w/ aero brake levers, and now have belatedly realized that I'd like interrupter brake levers (auxiliary, cross, whatever you call them).

It looks like I can withdraw the brake cable, cut the housing, install the lever with its hinged clamp, and reconnect everything without re-wrapping the bars. Correct?

Any recommendations on which lever? My existing brake levers are silver, so I am looking for silver interrupter brakes with a hinged clamp, as light and minimalist as possible, with the narrowest possible clamp. This is for a vintage road drop bar with pretty engraving on either side of the stem, that I don't want to cover up.

jyl

Uh oh, I just thought of something.

On my bike, there are no brake cable stops on the frame. From the lever, the housing runs all the way to the sidepull brake caliper. It is a 1982 Peugeot roadbike.

I wonder if interrupter levers will work with this bike? Or, when the lever pushes on the housing, will it simply push the caliper sideways, giving me weird one-sided braking rather than properly modulated braking?

MilitantPotato

Ya need housing on both sides of the interrupt lever, so your setup works fine. I didn't have to re-wrap my bars after installing one on my bike that was already wrapped.

dsbrantjr

The housing on the side of the cross lever which leads to the brake needs to be free to be moved by the lever, do not wrap that housing run to the bars. Just run it right to the brake in the usual smooth curve, the amount the housing moves should not disturb your caliper.

siberia37

In all likelihood you will have trouble withdrawing the brake cable because it's probably been crushed by the cable anchor. Mine as well just completely replace the brake cables. Also, I don't know how you could get away with installing levers without unwrapping the bar tape, unless you install the levers on the untaped portion of the handlebars which seems iffy to me.

ibis_ti

I've done it twice on existing setups and the cables were in fairly good condition so I didn't have to replace them, just straighten them out a bit. If they are really old, then it would be a good time to replace them.

Salsa Halter Tops and Pauls components levers are the best and priciest. ALL of the other ones on the market are made by TRP and just re-branded. Some have carbon lever blades but are otherwise the same...even the $20 performancebike ones. The added benefit of the halter tops is that there is a swivel on the cable stop that keeps it lined up, they also have adjustable reach. All the other ones are fixed and that increases friction as the cable housing paths distorts. The Halter tops only come in silver which would match your bike.

fietsbob

Portland, a bike shop on every block .. guess computer workers do this stuff at work.

FWIW a lot of Cross levers hinge to open, many brands out of Taiwan companies .
Pauls out of Chico Cal, Empella come from Europe.
https://cyclocrossworld.com
has a bunch of sources..
Universal cycle or any of the hundred others, right in town there ,
has a bunch too ..
Not black:
https://www.cyclocrossworld.com/salsa...p-brake-levers
Salsa brand is owned by QBP so available about anywhere with a QBP account.

NB they are for oversized center bars. 31.8
so shims down to 26 or 1" are additional.


note: if you will accept black , they, from several companies, are priced lower.

Yea, hinged open clamp is the key , there.. though you place them inboard
of the end of the tape because the housing has to come UP
to meet the place in the brake lever .

further outboard you may need to retape the last inches to let the cable housing come up

in a reasonable line , for smooth operation ..

himespau 

If you want all silver included the clamps, I just got a pair of these:
https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...ll-silver.html

Haven't installed them yet, but the all black (lever+clamp) tektro interupters I've got on a different bike do me just fine.

fietsbob

Actually Tektro is the bigger company, TRP their 'Race products' division.

gyozadude

Black clamp, silver lever, $14+ shipping

https://www.cycleclubsports.com/p-315...60-silver.aspx

Gdando

Himespau, have you had an opportunity to install these. I am looking at some solutions for city riding that will work with my Campy GS brakes and levers.

himespau 

The silver ones I haven't used, but the black version of the same worked pretty well on a setup that I used to run. Ended up getting in better shape and leaning forward more and spend less time where I used them so I took them off at some point to regain room on the bars, but they worked fine for me. Of course that was with brake levers that used aero routing. GS levers are non-aero, right?