voldemort

Anybody ever see bullhorn brakes mounted like this? The LBS set it up this way when they switched out the drops for bullhorns (yes, they just reused the original brake levers instead of swapping them out with bar end brakes).

devilshaircut

Backwards, no. But funny you should bring this up, given Bike Snob's blog entry today.

delorean

get some TT levers.

sneaky viking

This is your bike?

unogear

I seen the re-used of drop brake levers but never seen backward like that. You are the original!

joetotale

I see those all the time in Chicago. And yes, give that bike some TT levers.

europa

Different.
How does it work? Maybe they know something we've overlooked in going for the obvious ... and maybe they don't

Richard

dayvan cowboy

my friend had one brake mounted like that for awhile. it was a real old lever on chop n flops though and there was only one of them.

That looks like it eliminates one of the hand positions.

s0urce

There's no way that can feel comfortable!

fuzz2050

I've seen bikes set up that way, but with bar end shifters. Worked great for that guy, but to each their own...

voldemort

Yes, I admit it. It's my bike. And I guess living in (suburban) Chicago explains why the LBS thought this was a good idea. Damn suburbanites. Guess I'm back to the shop to talk to them about changing these out and putting on some TT's. Thanks, I thought maybe there was something that I didn't know about brakes on bullhorns. On the plus side, the shop is only 5 blocks away, and the bike was a great price.

667

darksiderising

They are positioned backwards because of the aero cable routing. If you did it the other way, you'd either have a lot of friction from the tight radius the housing would have to take to get under the bar tape or you'd have to let the housing stick out externally like bar end shifters.

MPLSdunk

it's not like they would put a new lever on unless you told them to.

europa

Thanks. Funny thing is, in another forum on here, one bloke was talking about having bullhorns, with aerobars mounted at the top and bar end shifters (which is why it isn't in this section). The cable routing didn't occur to me then. Maybe it's a function of the type of brake lever or maybe there's a work around.

Richard

wearyourtruth

i had a lever on my bullhorns in that manner for a while. i put it on myself and put it on backwards because if you put it on forwards out at the end of the bars (where the bar turns upwards) then i felt the lever was tilted too far away from the bar.

anyway, i hated it, even as an e-brake. i bought an old TT lever soon enough, much nicer.

sneaky viking

fixed.

voldemort

Actually, I was lulled into a sense of security when the LBS guy said "I guess I'll have to get some different brake levers" as we discussed switching out the drops. I guess he forgot to add "unless I can stick these on backwards."

Hirohsima

I've had brakes set up like that for 8+ years. They work just fine. Because the lever sits closer to the bar, you have less cable pull before you levers bottom out, you do have to run your brakes a little "tighter" than when using TT levers.

I now run TT levers and they look cleaner, but I would not say they stop any faster. Feel is about the same. TT levers are lighter and have a slightly more direct cable path so in theory would have better feel, but I don't notice much difference.

andrewro

Peeps do that around here all the time, mostly on cheap SS conversions where they are trying to spend as little as possible. I've seen some nice clean new setups in pics online but around here it's about re-using the original levers on an old bike, which is fine if you want to save money and recycle the parts.

Eire Mick

Yep. Best look, simple access.

bionnaki

https://velospace.org/node/1356

allstar255

cane creek 200tt's. ~$25

cant go wrong.

Major_Disaster

Yeah I have mine set up like that... it gets the job done, they look, well, different... I'm still gonna get some in-line braker levers anyway

brauluver

Works great for me on my Cheap and Cheerful Beater........But then again, I'm a tight@ss.