Wow, I missed a bunch more awesome posts - some comments.

Yes - I am using mafac Racer center pulls.

With the new levers I still can't throw myself over the front, but they are much better now. I think I am experiencing similar behavior to what Fastjake mentioned.

Thanks again for everyone's reponses. I'm always checking out bikeforums.net, but I don't post much - probably because all the answers are always already here!

Cheers