Modolo Kronos shifters
01-24-17, 10:59 PM
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Modolo Kronos shifters
What does everyone know about Modolo Kronos shifters. I think I spelled that correctly.
I have heard that they are made of plastic, resin, and early carbon fiber. What is the truth? Also, anyone had experience using them? Breaking?
DB
I have heard that they are made of plastic, resin, and early carbon fiber. What is the truth? Also, anyone had experience using them? Breaking?
DB
01-24-17, 11:24 PM
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I have the Kronos brake levers on a bike and they are some sort carbon-like material. I'd assume the brake levers were same. It's a very hard material.
01-25-17, 05:52 AM
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I have heard then described as "Carbon reinforced" or "Carbon filled" molded resin levers. Not sure how they did it, but maybe there are short strands fo chopped up CF mixed into the resin??
They were the prettiest looking shift levers back in the 80's when they came out, but quickly developed a well deserved reputation of being too flexible and snapping at the worst time for riders, almost immediately after the levers were issued for sale by Modolo. Tt is why they were pretty much a big sales flop for Modolo. That is also why I suspect there's still a lot of them that come up at eBay for sale NOS/NIB.
They will look great on a wall hanger Italian grail bike from the 80's but not the best ones to use for the road. For about the same amount of money these days, you can treat your road bike to a set of Simplex Retrofrictions instead. A few shifts with the admittedly much less pretty Retros will get you to forget about the Kronos levers real quick....
They were the prettiest looking shift levers back in the 80's when they came out, but quickly developed a well deserved reputation of being too flexible and snapping at the worst time for riders, almost immediately after the levers were issued for sale by Modolo. Tt is why they were pretty much a big sales flop for Modolo. That is also why I suspect there's still a lot of them that come up at eBay for sale NOS/NIB.
They will look great on a wall hanger Italian grail bike from the 80's but not the best ones to use for the road. For about the same amount of money these days, you can treat your road bike to a set of Simplex Retrofrictions instead. A few shifts with the admittedly much less pretty Retros will get you to forget about the Kronos levers real quick....
01-25-17, 07:33 AM
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They're fiber reinforced resin and very light. IIRC, I weighed a set at 26gm complete. I'm not aware of breakage issues; the Simplex Delrin levers with that problem lacked the fiber reinforcement. Otherwise, they're simple friction levers with performance as expected, perhaps a little more flexible than aluminum levers but how hard do you really crank on shift levers? The hardware is completely interchangeable with Campagnolo friction levers and clones such as Zeus, etc.
01-25-17, 09:13 AM
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I've got a set on the last frame I built. Never had any issues with them but with the curved lever it makes it seem like you have to pull them back further then a normal straight lever. I'm running just a six speed cluster with Suntour Superbe Pro rear mech and getting up to that tallest cog positions puts hand in an awkward angle. Besides the cool shifters are the super tiny centerpull calipers with integrated pad holders.
Was anything else to the Kronos line besides shift levers and the brake set?
Was anything else to the Kronos line besides shift levers and the brake set?
09-18-21, 09:54 AM
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I know, a very old post, but I happen to be looking around for these and needed to add here that I put tens of thousands of miles on a pair of these, training and racing (including 2 years Cat. 2 road) and I found these to be one of the most perfect components I owned. There was a ton of abuse thrown at these and they never let me down.
