Originally Posted by
DVC45
Schwinn Cross Cut bikes from the 90's has lever extensions to allow additional braking position on Trekking bars. I don't think it is available as an aftermarket part.
' would be cool to see it offered though.
Well, I played some with the bar and various brake levers this weekend and ultimately decided to give up on this idea. The way most trekking bars are designed, there is not enough room along the "bar end" position along the sides of the bar to allow for a brake lever. Anything I tried to put on there seemed to interfere with hand position on the sides of the bar. Additionally, I can't really figure out how I'd route the brake cable from by the Ergon grips to the side lever or from the side lever to the Ergons. I originally thought I could rout some sort of channel in the Ergons, lengthwise to run the cables but there's not enough substance to the grips to allow that. I did start looking for the type of brake levers pictured in this photo posted by DVC45. I felt certain I'd seen them before, even if they could only be purchased as a NOS item. I found a UK seller on ebay who had some so I bought a pair for about $25 USD shipped. I'm going to set up the bars with normal mountain bike levers and see if I really miss that side braking position. If I do, it shouldn't be too much hassle to swap out the levers.