I am thinking about putting a pair of Tektro RL520 Brake Levers on a set of bullhorns and I'm wondering about the brake cable routing. When aero levers are put on drop bars, the cable would come out of the top and run along the handlebar towards the stem. But if I put them on the ends of the bullhorns, the cable would have to exit downward along the handlebar like in this photo:


Is this possible with most areo levers?

Thanks for the help!

Not the ones I've seen. Maybe not even with these either. I'm seeing a really big bulge under the bar tape just up by the end cap of the bars. It looks to me like he's just wrapped the housing tightly around and U turned it back into the regular spot.

For my money I'd much rather go for the TT style levers. Far more neat looking and likely less housing friction due to the lack of U turns.

+1 on BCRider's comments. The cable routing in the photo looks awfully tight and has to have more than normal friction.

How about installing the levers 180° from their current position so the levers point up along the upturn of the bullhorns and the cable exit right along the bar? It may look a bit peculiar but the cable routing will be a lot better.

Thanks for the info, Yeah I'd be reluctant to make such a severe bend in my brake cabling. I've looked into TT levers for v-brakes too, but my bullhorn bar is a 22.2mm diameter and the internal diameter is 18mm...the only v-brake TT levers I've found need at least 19mm. Ill probably get the aero levers and flip them around so the levers are facing forward.

I run this setup quite successfully. The brake cable routing is a problem, but I solved it by filing away a small bit of the brake hood so that the cable could exit at a better angle, and using a flexible noodle - the noodles that are usually used for V-brakes and make a 90-degree bend are available in other bends, and also a flexible version. The one below is made by Jagwire, and is available at Amazon here, or from your LBS. This handles the sharp turn away from the brake hood, and then standard housing can be used for the rest.


After a few months, the cable friction still became too much for the brake to spring back open fully. Since the brakes are V-brakes and cantilevers, I removed the brake and inserted the pin in the tighter-tension hole. The lever now requires a firmer grip, but springs back without a problem.

My setup involves a set of Easton Delta Force, aluminium bullhorn bars. A Tektro V-brake compatible drop-bar lever to operate my front V-brake on the left-hand side, and a Shimano STI lever to operate a rear cantilever brake and 10-speed cassette on the right hand side, plus a down-tube shifter to control the front derailleur. I love this setup on my commuter bike because it keeps me reasonably high so that I have decent visibility, the bars are narrow so that I can squeeze up the inside of cars at the lights, and I have my hands in a comfortable position on the bull horns with full control of the rear derailleur and powerful braking at my fingertips at all times (riding on the hoods with drop bars would result in a similar position, but I find braking power to be compromised in that position). I top this all off with one right-hand interruptor lever that I use to hold the bike still while waiting at lights, but my hands are not normally in this position when I'm actually riding - they are nearly always on the horns.

Thanks for the tip! I think I'll order those, do you have any pics of you setup?

Here's some photos. In the close-ups, the lever hoods are peeled back. I didn't need to file any of hood of the STI lever (Shimano 105 5600), but did so for the Dia Compe 287V.