Mounting flat bar Brake Levers on drop bars?
 

I am using an Eagle group set, from SRAM of course. I am having difficulty finding hooded brake levers without shifting mechanisms.

I was wondering if I could just mount my flat bar brake levers on the drops? I use MicroSHIFT shifters. I have a thumb & bar end shifter, as well....

Suggestions?

What brakes are you running?

You wanting something like modern STI's that run the cables back under the bar tape? Probably going to have to look for a used pair on Ebay and just not use the shifter part. Otherwise, there should be many of the old style brake levers we use on bikes before STI's became the thing and shifters were on the downtube. Though new is probably going to be a cheap'o brand.

I'd consider a different groupset though that works for drop bars. Eagle is a mountain bike flat bar group.

https://www.gevenalle.com/product/si...-cable-brakes/ Cane Creek (which these might be, rebranded) and Tektro have similar/identical.

Good luck.

Tektro has inexpensive brake levers For drop bars that work quite well... RL340 or RL341.

John

Here are some others:
Cane Creek Drop V levers
Sram S500 or Rival 1
Tektro RL520
Shimano Tiagra BL-R400.

Flat bar lever clamps are smaller diameter than drop bar. Some won't fit without modification, those that can fit may deform your bar.

There may be road levers that work for ya. As another poster asks, what brakes you got?

Having used SRAM S500 levers on several bikes, what is wrong with those? If price is an issue Cane Creek and Tektro make some levers as well as others (Shimano made some great ones for a while). If you want Hydro TRP makes the Hylex. Or you can run any number of awesome alt and flat bars. My favorites would be the Koga Denham and the Surly Moloko though I am interested in trying the Ti Cycles 15˚ Kiss Halo bars maybe with some aero bar extensions. and the world is pretty much yours.

If you are dead set on running flat bar style levers on a drop bar then go for a cross lever like one from Paul or Cane Creek.

Even if flat bar brake lever clamps could be modified to fit 26mm drop bar diameter ... the lever shape is all wrong ... even if you moved them up to the flats ... cross levers would be a better idea for the flats. And what about the shifter(s)? When I did a flats to drops convo several years ago I decided to separate the braking and shifting functions because (at the time) prices for 9sp brifters were simply insane. So I got some Tektro levers and also Downtube shifters. When DT shifters were dominant, downtube diameters were 27mm. The dt of my Raleigh Coupe was 50mm! Found a guy on Ebay making DT bosses to fit large diameter tubing.

I am measuring the width at the bottom of the drops on the handlebars I bought, at 23mm, which is the same measurement I get on my riser bar, hence the question! I have MicroShift thumb and bar end shifters, which I believe will fit the new bar as well.

The brake levers on my riser bar (RXL-SL) are SRAMs. I tried to get a picture to post multiple times. There is something weird going on with the “new” version of the iPad IOS! The software tries to reformat pages!

Spec for MTB bars is 22.2mm, road 23.8.

As I mentioned earlier, some flat bar brakes will fit drop bars, but may deform them a bit upon tightening. Many flat bar lever clamps would need to be reamed a bit.

Old steel dropbar handlebars were also 22.2mm. One thing though. Even if you did get your flatbar brake levers onto your dropbar, will you be able to reach the brake lever?

Another option would be to consider putting cyclo-cross aka interrupter levers onto the straight portion of your dropbar.

This guy put his flatbar brake levers onto the lower straight portion of his handlebar.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f0c3d3b8f9.jpg


Cheers

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. I've seen bars on low-end Walmart road bikes as recently as 2013 that had 22.2 lever clamp diameter.

The bike I am working on!
 

I finally figured out how to insert text with this picture. I used the Apple Support APP, available at the Apple store, to finally get this picture posted!

Cartecay Bike Shop might be surprised to hear, they sold me a low-end Walmart bike ;-)

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8b21b59e5.jpeg

Actual measurment!
 

Maybe someone else’s bifocals are better than mine?

My hands and legs may not have been steady enough to take this shot, I tried! I will admit once I got the SRAM brake levers off the “old riser bar” it did not want to go on the new handlebar. So there may be a single mm difference on some bars? Old eyes may not be able to see that “fine“ print.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d99c4771f.jpeg
Looks, close to 22-23mm to me!

Those bars should be 23.8. Usually the best method without calipers or micrometer is to wrap a strip of paper around the bar. Mark it, measure it to find circumference. Divide that by pi to arrive at radius.

BUT it looks like you have the brake levers right there, its a go/nogo situation. Pull a grip, and try to put one of those brake levers on. As others have noted ergonomics will be terrible, but if the shoe fits... Keep in mind that even if it fits on the end, it might not get past the bends, depending on the clamp type.

In other news, is that a thumbshifter for rear shift duties?

I found my calipers, took me a while to get the calipers working. I get a reading of 23.82.... Yea, it was a nogo, However, I did not try to “force” them on. I have rubber, wood hammers, dead blows.....they come close to going on.......

I was only fooling with this while I was waiting on hooded levers, whichCartecay Bike Shop ordered and expects to arrive today or tomorrow...I hate not being able to ride my bike! Although there are advantages to trying to maintain a constant pace on the recumbent!

Yes, my bike has a 12 speed SRAM Eagle group set, no front ring! It is a MicroShift 12 speed thumb shifter, viewable on Youtube. I also have a MicroShift bar end shifter, which I bought in case the thumb shifter would not slide on the drop bars. I did a “review” of the MicroShift shifters which garnered quite a few comments! They are very reliable/adjustable.....

You can get drop bar handlebars in MTB diameter (22,2mm).

I have them on my kid‘s racing bike, purchased through Amazon IIRC.