this is a very pretty Schwinn

I have them on my 73 Nishiki. They aren't the most visually appealing thing ever, but if you keep your brakes adjusted they will stop you just fine. I have had no problem bringing my 200 lb carcass and bike to a stop with them, but having said that there is no place for them on my Paramounts, at least the ones that use Weinmann brakes.

When I was a kid, hammering around the county on a Free Spirit, the "top" levers were what you used when you weren't sure you had to stop. Then you hit the drops if you 1) recognized the need, 2) analyzed it and 3) acted on that analysis. There, did that geek it up enough?

In other words, the tops were for "hmmmm?" and the drops were for "uh, oh" Never had a problem, besides a little rattle once in a while.

I saw a bike the other day that had a set of little black levers on the tops, and regular STI's.
I thought they were right cool.

I don't know how I've managed to survive these 69 years, using suicide levers and steel rims. I never knew there was anything wrong with them until I started reading these forums. Must be that I'm so slow, it doesn't matter!
P.S. And with dork disks, too!

Thats a really pretty bike. since you will have to replace the levers to put the so called suicide turkey wings on, it would probably be just as good to go for some areo levers with the interuptors instead. they will work better. Thats what I would do if it was my daughter.

BUT.. I like them. Keep your wheels true and good pads, whats the problem. My moto with Weinnman center pulls can put me up on the front wheel with the "turkeywing". Even with the big, heavy, metal pie plate on the back. Though on reflection, I have a couple that are a little on the "relaxed braking" side of the wall.

Despite the glowing yellow wrap?

I keeeeeedddddd.

I think the yellow wrap looks sweet with the chrome.

Don't you mean Anti-Stop brakes?

Same here. The only reason I took them off my 83 Raleigh is to put on aero levers which are more comfy to ride on the hoods. But when I ride on the hoods it takes a LOT more force to stop from there than the old suicide levers took. For braking effectiveness, turkey legs are better when riding out of the drops than aero levers are.

So if you have to move the turkey leg 3 times as much, it means you are generating 3 times the braking force for the same applied force as the "real brake lever". By your argument, suicide levers are more effective.

Yes. On the cheap bikes I had I felt like I could almost snap a brake cable with the extension levers. Again, for me the issue was the amount of lever travel required. Imagine if the brake pedal in your car had 3-feet of travel. On my bikes I could pull the extension levers up and beyond the top of the bars which would press the real levers tightly against the bars easily bringing me to a stop but I couldn't keep my hands on the bars while doing it. I think they were a good idea with somewhat poor execution.

Maybe on some bikes the extension levers would strike the bars and not go past hence the suicide nickname?

No, suicide levers don't increase travel. Look at one.

If your primary levers were hitting the bar, then your problem was not with the secondary levers, but with adustment. You needed a lot of slack taken out of the brakes, thats probably why so many hate(d) the secondary levers right there.

The 3/8th of an inch figure comes from the fact that you take a normal brake lever then adjust it so that it has about 3/8 inch of slop into which you insert the extension lever end. This means that your regular brake lever has less travel than it would have were the extension levers not there. This isn't a case of less travel = more mechanical advantage. This is a case of less travel = less travel.

Still, I've never had a problem with extension levers. I like them and I like big, garish dork disks.

This is true which is why I kept mine adjusted correctly. I've had no problems with mine and I still use the ones on my low-end Fuji with good results. I just don't refer to them as suicide levers.