Is there a measurment or rule of placement for brake levers on drop bars ? or do you simply place them for ease of use,I have noticed on some bikes that some levers are high up the bend,which is fine when your hands are on top but diff when in full crouch,so is there a rule of thumb to apply when positioning levers on bars ?

The "rule of thumb" I was taught was that the bottom of the lever aligns in a straight line with the horizontal bottom of the drop handlebars. Put a straight edge on it extended forward, drop the lever until it touches.

Then, that lower, flat section of bar points to the rear dropout.

But those are only starting points... use personal preference to adjust to taste from there.

mess with them until you find a comfortable position for how you ride most often

For greater comfort, Grant Petersen recommends raising the levers an additional thumbs width, or 12-16mm higher than the traditional position of flush with the bottom of the bar. YMMV.

With everything Grant Petersen, you have to add YMMV!

YMMV????
Your Most Memorable Vehicle?
Yes My Most Venerable?
Yikes! Mean Mobster Vicar!

I'm really confused so it's my guess others are as well.

I place my levers where they are the most comfortable for me. Most people believe I place them too high, but I really do like them this way since I ride holding the hoods quite frequently.

I have some rollers for winter riding. It is a good way to play with the lever setting, since you don't have to attach the brakes to ride hard for a few sessions. For that matter you can play around with stem and handlebar combos as well.

Bob, a reference for us old folk:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=YMMV

Now I feel foolish!

don't feel bad, I didn't know what YMMV was either!

I don't think they are too high, that is how I like my levers. I think they are the most comfortable at that position and with my small fingers, it allows easier access and I can actually brake from the hoods. But YMMV (your mileage may vary).

[OOPS! I just noticed that this is the vintage bike forum. I was reading the new posts and realize that changing stem or bars isn't practical on a vintage bike (I have one too). The experiment part and Andy's book does have some thoughts that are practical for a vintage bike too. Read the rest with this in mind]
Hi, I used to use the "bottom tip of the lever even with a straightedge placed on the bottom of the drops", and then tilted the whole bars up to make it more comfortable for riding on the hoods. This made it uncomfortable to use the levers while descending in the drops. I have since gotten a good bike fit from Andy Pruitt which caused me to raise the bars up with an up-tilted stem, and get bars that have a shorter reach and a shallow drop. With the new stem arrangement and new bars I can place the levers as suggested, but keep the bars tilted more level. This lets me use the bars in the drops as well. I think my experience points out the need to get a good bike fit, and/or experiment with the overall bar height and bar geometry to find something that is right for you. Pruitt has a book called Andy Pruitt's Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists. This has a lot of good information on bike fit, and may eliminate the need to spend the time and money for a visit to him or another bike fitter.
Good luck, Mark

I position my levers so that my wrists are in an essentially neutral alignment when my hands are atop the brake hoods. My right forearm is a good cm shorter than my left, partly from birth and party from a Colles' fracture of the radius, so I make a compromise between the two sides.

I prefer mine on the high side, as I ride with my hands on the hoods more than anywhere else.

Since Andy Pruitt turned 55 his advice for everybody is to get an up-tilted stem and a bar with shorter reach.https://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[QUOTE=oldbobcat;8022659]Since Andy Pruitt turned 55 his advice for everybody is to get an up-tilted stem and a bar with shorter reach=QUOTE]

I guess it makes sense, then, since I am 56! My new bikes required some new stuff, but my older bike (1971 campy nr columbus tubed "Coppi") was pretty easy to adjust--I just raised the gooseneck and positioned the levers back a bit.

Mark

Don't forget that Cinelli Criterium bars are completely different animals when it comes to lever placement as well. The dropped top half makes it quite difficult to mount levers with any standard convention in mind:



Near impossibility with brifters on that bar, though it has been done.

-Kurt

I think it just depends on what sort of bars your hands fit for the way you ride. I've gravitated back to traditional Maes bends but with shallow drop. Two examples are the Noodle and the Nitto Randonneur, with the Ambrosio 13-Volte and Nitto B115 being similar. On all of these I like the lever tips aligned with the drop bottom like the traditional rule of thumb. Then I tilt the whole bar up to get a level top ramp. This works even better with Ergolevers (modern and original) on Noodles. It works terribly with Ergolevers on Ritchey Biopace II for some reason.

I think it's CarpediemRacing who has a real good blog essay on bar placement and tilt for different sorts of riding.

Road Fan