thook

There's countless discussion about the relative merits and usefulness of these things. "Safety Levers"...is that what they're technically called? I dunno. I"ve never used them, but I do have some and was thinking of using them in lieu buying anything. They're the Dia Compe levers that came on my '83 Univega Gran Turismo. In pondering their use, I just can't see them being totally useless. IOW's, would they not at least be useful at trimming speed? Not full on hard breaking as I know they're not good at that.

Anyway, do you use them? How are they working for you? Anything you've done to improve upon them actually making them useful?

Show a pic....if you ain't skeered to

Thanks!!!

Bigbus

I use mine whenever I'm on the tops and riding around pedestrians. They\re on my old Giant.

Chuck M 

IMHO, properly setup, Did-Compe safety levers should function well enough to stop the bike in most instances. I have some on a casual rider I ride on a local bike path and they are handy enough. I had cheaper, no-name versions on bikes as a kid and they were as useful as a fart in a whirlwind.

Chombi1 

I guess they could be considered "low powered, speed modulator levers"........but not brake levers....

thook

Hahaha!!

Well, is there anything you think that could be improved upon with them? One must have good brake pads, of course. Could hoods be installed on them and the safety lever still function?

thook

Speed modulators would be good enough

merziac

Not a fan, back in the day there were reports of people grabbing them in a panic stop and sailing right into things. Those folks maybe shouldn't have been on a bike in the first place but the few times I rode them I was able to ride from tops of the brake levers and brake just as I do now. Every bike I've owned that had them gets stripped of them and then I hack mounts for them off and add hoods.

Modern cables and pads with a tight setup would probably add stopping power but they would still be unattractive, especially with no hoods.

Also as speed modulators, if you commit to them and you're wrong, you may be sorry if you have to let go and try to grab the real brake levers.

billnuke1 

I have some bicycles with them...I’ve gone to use them while riding bikes that don’t have them...some definitely work better than others...easy enough adjustment...

Chuck M 

Velo Orange and others sell them online. I've not used them but they look like you will need to cut the hole for the pivot for the safety lever. And I don't think there is anyway the hoods would make them work better, just more comfortable if you ride on the hoods.

bikemike73 

For the casual rider they are perfectly fine.

Had them on my schwinn continental as a kid and have them on my schwinn sports Tourer.

It all depends on speed and the area in which you are riding.
cruising around with your hands on top in a more upright position is very comfortable.

I have had no issues stopping when I needed to.

Murray Missile 

I have them on a couple old bikes, one is a 45 lb. Schwinn Varsity with chrome steel wheels. With good cables and pads and the brakes adjusted for minimal pad to rim clearance they work quite well. I ride on top of the curve of the bar most of the time. By reaching under the bar from the outside and gripping the turkey lever on the curved section I can stop just as quickly as using the primary levers. People with smaller hands probably couldn't do that.

Unless properly setup if you grip them on the flat closest to the stem most will have too much flex and hit the handlebar. I used a set on another build with aluminum rims, 700c X 42 tires, Jagwire cables and KoolStop pads for cantilever brakes on old Shimano side pulls. They were just as effective as the interupter levers on my drop bar MTB with the same cables and pads on Shimano front cantis and rear U-brake.

YMMV.

bikemig 

I have them on two bikes as they the "safety" levers came as original equipment: a 1970s Sekine SHS 271 and a 1972 Schwinn Sports Tourer. These are pretty well designed levers as these things go (one is a shimano, another a weinmann). I like them. I use them.

daverup 

I've got a 83 LeTour with "safety levers". It came with them, and they are fine for low speed stops. I do keep the adjustments pretty tight, loose they are not much good.
My wife insists on some kind of levers on the tops, so she has safety levers on a couple of bikes and cross levers on another.
I've added cross levers to another one of my bikes and they are a much better solution for bikes with aero lever cable routing.

83 LeTour,

Fahrenheit531 

Nope.

dabac

As always, it’s never about the idea only. The way it is implemented is equally important.
I had one bike where they were clearly added as an afterthought. So to the extent that the tab that hooked on to the primary lever actually caused the brake to lose some travel. Adding to that, they were flexy aluminium, which hardly surprising made for a near useless setup.
Another bike at least had a notch in the lever mount, which allowed for full travel and a somewhat useful system.
The least old bike I had, the extra levers were actually steel. Those worked rather well.
One thing I suspect contributed to the levers bad reputation was how they fitted the bars.
For the extra levers to work at their best, the grip section has to swing up in an arc that ends ar the bar. I’ve seen several bikes where the lever’s range of motion would have them swing clear of the bar and end up abt 2”ahead of the bar. Continuing to squeeze the lever then would only bend it w/o adding any tension to the brake.

OldsCOOL

My only bike sporting the awesome extra levers was the ‘72 Motobecane Mirage, my first real road bike. By the following springtime I removed them. I say “awesome” because I didn’t know they were turkey levers until my first group ride to school my junior year.

Now? To me they are the pinnacle of the gaspipe/boom bike trifecta of turkey levers, stem shifters and dork disks.

T-Mar

The best performing safety levers that I've experienced are the factory installed, Shimano versions on Sekine. Having said that, on a properly fitting bicycle, there should be no need for them. The most comfortable, relatively upright position should be the top of the brake levers. Rubber hoods and cycling gloves should resolve any hand comfort issues. From the hoods, pre SLR/BRS brakes with non-aero levers, should work better than safety levers. SLR/BRS calipers with aero levers should stop you completely and dual pivot calipers work even better from the hoods.

BFisher 

My entry in the latest Clunker 100 Challenge has them and they operate some Paragon brand centerpulls on steel rims.

Are they great? No. Are they terrible? No. I look at them as speed adjusters, and actually decent stoppers at low speed. If I was going to keep this bike I'd leave them on. I don't have them on any other bike, but don't fault those that choose them.

Bigbus

I have a spare pair in my parts bin that actually do have hoods on them. I thought about trying to get the hoods off and put them on my Giant, but the rubber is too dried out (they're old, like me). If adjusted properly, they work fairly well, not like the real levers out front though.

stevel610 

Had them on this '79 Fuji Gran Tourer before I sold it. They worked fine. Worked even better with aluminum CR18 rims.

Bigbus

Yep, I added cross levers to my newer bike and they are real brake levers that work.

fabiofarelli

These went off

and these stayed. My face changed.

bikemig 

Agreed that they're not needed. I kept them on my Sekine SHS 271 and the '72 Schwinn Sports Tourer because they were original equipment and I like the old school look. The Shimano ones on the Sekine are very good. So are the "safety" levers on the Sports tourer. Plus the way they were set up is smart. The levers are set up high on randonneur bars so there is plenty of room underneath the handlebars. These won't bottom out easily if at all.

79pmooney

I'm pretty certain that is a Diacompe lever. The tab that is a brake release is a Diacompe feature. (I liked it. Very useful in a race once. I crashed. Got up to chase and found my front rim wobbling brake shoe to brake shoe. I could throw that release off without taking my hands off the bars and keep full braking power the rest of the race. Finished in the "money" - 1978 so that was a joke! That detail was appreciated.)

Other comment that your photo illustrates so well - notice that the top of the lever at the brake bends down into the gap between the lever and the lever body. This rotates the grip portion of the lever about a 1/2" closer to the bars, dropping your ultimate braking power (or range of adjustment/allowable negligence). Most of the common "safety" levers do this. Weinmann of the day (I saw these in 1977) used a different detail that did not compromise lever range. It left a fastener/attachment point when it was taken off so this wasn't entirely a blessing but when the levers were on, that was a substantially better detail. (It's been a longgg time -and head injury - since I looked at one of those so I cannot describe it further.)

bikemig 

It could be dia compe. The stuff on the bike is mainly "Schwinn" branded and Schwinn sourced from a lot of different companies. The action on the brakes and quick release is very good.

The "safety" lever has a lot of travel on this set up so very unlikely to bottom out. The price for that as you point out is that less travel for the brake lever on the drops which may be a problem. I'll have to see how that works in operation as I am currently rebuilding the bike.

I bought the bike a week or two ago. It's pretty clearly set up for someone who might not be accustomed to riding in the drops. It's a bit funky but I like it in a slow down and kind of smell the flowers way.