brake on 25.4 nitto track bars
 

I just wrote a thoughtful post, but too many people use bikeforums, so it is lost forever. To repeat, I want to put a brake like one would find on the top bar of a cross bike on 25.4 mm nitto chrome track bars. Is there a shim (or could I make one) that would allow a standard 26.0 clamp lever to work, or should I use a 25.4 mtb lever? Will an inline lever work on it's own, or does it require the normal upstream brake? Will clamping a lever to the chrome hbars hurt it, and how can this be prevented? If anyone has experience with a setup like this, I would appreciate your advice. Thanks a whole bunch.

shims: cut up a coca-cola can, beer can, or any other aluminum can to make strips, wrap a few of the strips around and use as shim.

not hurting bars: perhaps a bit of tape first?

Would electrical tape alone as a shim provide enough support? If so, I will just run a standard in line cross brake (I think I can find one in aluminum to go with the chrome). I'll post a pic if it looks slick enough to claim.

i used electrical tape as a shim for my bike light after the little rubber piece disappeared. it didn't work well for that, so i would assume it would work even worse for something that moves.

electrical tape doesnt work... cause with a brake.. the lever motion is always tugging at it.. lasts for about a day before you pull it off...handlebar/stem shhims work

i've had electrical tape as a shim on some nitto bars for 3 months now. works fine. just use enough so that it's a tight fit for the clamp.

Note: Cross brakes don't work without another brake; I already tried it this past week. In a pinch, I bent the **** out of a BMX lever and squeezed it on, then bent it back to clamp onto the bars. I'm hoping to get this Odyssey BMX Modulever because it's burly, will sit up nicely next to my stem, and has what appears to be a hindged attachment point, not to mention it is a 1" brake lever (25.4mm, Nitto standard).

Wouldn't you have to install it upside down to use as a front brake lever? I only saw rear levers on ebay. Obviously it would work on the right side, but it seems like the cable housing would have a weird bend in it.

every cross lever I've ever set up works perfectly w/o another brake lever. Check out any of the hundreds of bikes in fgg w/ only a cross lever up top.