hi folks, reposting from the road forum on the advice of a poster there. i have a '60s motobecane with weinmann brake levers on the drop bars. i want brakes at the top riding position but i'm not sure if it's at all possible to install interruptor/cross/auxiliary levers with a nonaero setup. would i have to settle for those horrible extension levers? any other alternative?
thanks!

You could always use aero levers. You can get the nice Tektros for $20 plus shipping.

Seriously though, I believe I read of someone who had used the cross levers with non-aero levers. As long as you can get the cable to the proper place with a fairly smooth curve you should be fine. You would have to experiment with the length a bit. It may not be elegant looking but, theoretically, it should work.

getting aero levers wouldn't be the end of the world but i would really rather keep the original weinmanns on this forty year-old bike. i will poke around and see if i can do it with a reasonably small cable curvature.

I understand wanting to stick with what you have. I just scored some levers so I could avoid going aero on my LeTour IV.

Another thought just hit me...

Some interruptors can be set up to be used without other levers (basically similar to flat bar levers, only reversed).

If you set up the existing levers, and cross levers that can be used without other levers needed, using the cable doubler you might be able to do what you are looking to do.

It seems like it should work, but I have obviously never done it.

I just searched for sources on Google and see that the CableDoublers go for over $40 each... Seems expensive to me, but worth it, if they do what you need.

Aero levers will boost your braking leverage by about 10%.

QBP used to sell a different coupler for a good bit less money. I've used and still use both the older one and the newer one. I do it to pull both brakes with one lever and they work quite well. The newer one is easier to set up but I'm not sure it's 2X easier and is nearly 2X as expensive.

Like Darwin I'd think you could make the cross levers work with some creative cabling.

Can you tell that I am inbtrigued by your situation, and looking for a solution...

Probably because I think a similar setup would be nice on my LeTour.

Park talks about installing a splitter, and it is not the one from Problem Solvers, but they don't link to a manufacturer... https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=155

EDIT: Ijust found it, it is a JTEK and is $47.50 https://jtekengineering.com/AeroBrake.htm

I just did a little experiment and crossing them over seems to be a pretty satisfactory way of doing it. This may be somewhat strange to get used to with the right lever operating the rear from the drops and the left operating the rear from the top but it gives the smoothest cable routing i could come up with. If you get the cross levers close enough to the stem it makes the routing from the bars to the bike pretty similar to a mountain bike. You could also use noodles for tighter curves if you wanted to try something with more drastic bends.

I thought of crossing them over, but that would be hard to get used to...

Interesting that you went through to try it out.

I was also thinking that going in the opposite direction might work, but looking at it in my mind, I think that would be a good use of noodles as you suggest.

One significant issue with any routing has to be whether the cables interfere with the operation of the bike... or get in the way of the hands. I see this as a high risk in going the reverse direction, because the cables could get in the way.

all of these are good ideas. too bad i don't have a stable of spare parts on hand, cause it's hard to determine just what to buy, but i will figure it out. thanks to all for your thoughts!!