Seeking a brake/shifter solution
 

I'm building a road bike with a limited number of gears — probably 7 or 8 on a cassette.

I'm also planning on bullhorn bars with aero TT levers. I haven't used them before and am kind of excited to try them out. But the last time I did a bullhorn build, I used a bar-end shifter. These brakes prohibit that.

I've been thinking about putting a right thumb shifter on the left (so the cable goes the right direction), but that'll be kind of cramped, so I thought I'd ask what other solutions folks have come up with. This is to be a practical, speedy bike for getting me around between a couple of nearby towns. That means that there's a fair amount of cruising in the 20 mph range, but also a fair amount of dodging cars at either end, so I have to be able to brake and shift without taking my hands off the bars.

Suggestions?

Bullhorn bars are going to complicate this but I think a Kelly Take-Off could be adapted to fit at the end of the bar and let you mount a single downtube shifter right next to the brake lever. Chris Kelly is out of business but the Take-Offs are still available on E-bay.

Hey, I just came across another idea to solve your problem. Lennard Zinn has a write up on the Velonews web site about a new gadget he saw at the Las Vegas Interbike show. Hed has designed a brake lever that attaches directly to either Shimano or Campy bar-end shifters and seems to be exactly what you are looking for. Here is the URL:

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/...s/13443.0.html

Scroll down to the 7th set of photographs. Cool huh?

+1 I was just about to post that.

... that's cool... but... I totally don't understand it....

(more news as events warrant)

AH!
Now I see! That lever splits apart. Man. Cool.

90 bucks though, huh? Maybe this one will wind up being a fixie.

Jtek Engineering has been making that product for some time. http://jtekengineering.com/AeroBrake.htm

Jtek also makes a clamp-on reverse lever that would leave the bar-ends open for the shifters. http://jtekengineering.com/Jtek_Brake_Levers.htm

Like the Hed, both are pretty spendy options.

I can't understand why one of these mainstream manufacturers of reverse brake levers can't set up their clamp system so that they work with bar end shifters.

HA!

I *thought* I'd seen brake levers like that somewhere! I've been hunting for them!

I have a feeling I'm going to knock off some of these in the workshop. $80 for a pair of brake levers doesn't work for me.

... you know, starting with a pair of cyclocross top bar levers might work out. Partially drilling the "cable" side to accept the jacket, and putting a plug in the "jacket" side to take the end of the cable.