Converting Non-Aero Levers to Aero-Brake-Levers
 

"Another unusual setup detail of this bike was the pre-æro "æro" brake levers. (Installed after the photo above was taken.) These were conventional Weinmann levers, except that I ran the cables out the bottoms of the levers, rather than the tops. This was a very cool-looking effect back before the invention of modern "æro" levers, and also provided handy access to my handlebar bag (everybody used handlebar bags, back then!) " That's from the sheldon brown site. I had thought about this before and after reading this on his site I tried for an hour an a half to try and do it to some old brake levers I have but couldn't figure it out. Has anyone else done this or know how to do this?

Here's the link to Sheldon Brown's site where I got the quote: http://sheldonbrown.org/otb.html

Don't do it. Yes, you can reroute the cables and housing but the path has too many bends and braking action will suffer. Go to your LBS find some NOS Dia Compe, Shimano or Sun Tour aero levers. They should be cheap as they are no longer used much and will route the cables properly. Sheldon did that before there were alternatives but I bet he wouldn't do it again.

Right you are! However I don't recommend the Dia Compe/Sun Tour levers so much. The Shimano and Tektro/Cane Creek units work a lot better, lower internal friction. Even new they're not expensitudinous.

http://harriscyclery.com/brakes

Sheldon "Stop" Brown

Sheldon! About the smaller sized tekros, are they much smaller than a standard Campy (10 spd). My hands are small, but the campy feels pretty good already, which tekro would be best?

If you're talking about how the hoods feel as a place to hold on to, I don't think there's any difference.

The "compact" Tektros, however have the brake lever a bit closer to the handlebar, making it an easier reach for a rider with short fingers.

Sheldon "Long Fingers" Brown

I just got the compact Cane Creeks, and they hardly feel small at all in comparison to the Modolo levers I just replaced. I'm glad I got them. I'm 5'8" with normal hands, but contemporary brake levers feel huge (both the hoods and the levers) to me compared to my old Modolos with the Ergo hoods. The compact Cane Creeks at least feel right in the lever part.

After a week with the Cane Creeks, I'm glad I finally went Aero and I've gotten used to the big hoods.

After analyzing the Cane Creeks and seeing how Aero really works, I thought about how I'd do the same effect with the old Modolos. The others above are right - it would clearly be an inferior hack to the real things, which are designed for that purpose.