My daughter is now riding the chrome super le tour 12.2 and I want to add the brake levers that are on the inside edge of the handle bars. I can't for the life of me remember what they are called. They are like the ones on this traveler.

They are commonly called "suicide levers" due to the way they perform in an emergency or "turkey wings" due to the way they look.

and people usually REMOVE them from their bikes. If you want something like that, consider these instead:
https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=1067

much safer.

They were commonly referred to back in the day as touring levers. I've always liked them. I do think of them as anti-lock brakes though.

Anti-lock brakes? Not sure that I see the connection. Anti-lock brakes are designed to take you right to the brink of lock up and then apply no more braking force, regardless of how much harder you press on the brakes. "Suicide levers" have no such feature. They just dull the braking action, typically leaving you quite far from the amount of force needed to lock the front wheel. As long as the bike rider knows the limitations, they are not a problem to use for slowing down when you are descending into a turn or similar, but the problem comes from less knowledgeable riders who are not aware of their limitations. I'd really encourage you not to put them on a bike for your daughter.

Rather install in-line brake levers instead.

Old.

Another option, ask her if she'd prefer a flat/riser bar instead. More comfort and control, just use mtb levers.

you want some used ones? I'll give you them for cost of shipping (assuming I didn't chuck them out like I usually do), I think they are Dia-compes.
edit: I agree with the advice from WNG and others concerning trying those other options first, they are better. But if you really want these, just PM me...

Anti-lock because it impossible to lock up a wheel with them. Back in the day I found they worked much better if the lever was mounted a little higher up on the bar than normal. this would move the extension lever away from bar thus alowing more travel.


If she likes them there's no reason not to install them. We always called them 'extension levers'.

Yep... I always thought of them as more of a way to slow down, then to come to a complete stop.

Lazy levers. I know a place that sells complete sets levers and side pull brakes for $20. New old stock I think.

Get rid of those "safety-levers" as they were called officially - better known as suicide-levers. Get some interrupter-levers that mount next to the stem. Those really do work.

This is the bike in question:



I was trying to keep it period correct, but safety comes first. I could see installing brake levers near the stem on the current bars. It will give me a good excuse to practice wrapping the bars with new tape.

Thanks for the input.

Sears called them "dual-position" brake levers.

"Secondary brake levers" and FWIW, the ones I had on my old Moto were just fine. I could stop as well with them as with the main levers.

I think another term was "auxiliary brake levers."

I've heard them called 'brokes.'

No, not really.

In the 1980 Raleigh catalog, they're called "extension levers."

Neal

In any event - the interrupter's work on the same cable as the regular brakes. So you have a brake-lever at hand when in the drops, and one when riding with the hands on top of the bars. And the interrupter's work very well - unlike the suicide-levers.

Jack - you are either very fortunate, or your normal brakes on your Moto were also toast. I had a 1981 Motobecane Grand Touring with the suicide-levers. They would slow you down, but only stop you, finally, after pulling on them hard enough to pop a wheelie. Off they went.

I like suicide levers. They work well for me. I don't understand the fuss of people wanting to remove them all the time.

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I like them. You've got all that bar up there. Might as well use it. Riding with your hands way up there without the levers, now that's suicide..

I love suicide levers. I never have missed stopping with them yet.

The more modern "interrupter" levers are much, much better.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/b...vers-drop.html

About 2/3 of the way down the page. They work by splicing them into the cable itself. The problem with the safety levers is it reduces your brake lever travel by, what, 3/8 of an inch? This reduces your braking power quite a bit. Since the interrupter levers don't do this, they give full-power braking in addition to allowing your regular levers to have full braking. Hmm... awkward phrasing but I am too lazy to rewrite it. Think about adding those instead.

I don't understand the 3/8" part.

I was half joking with the anit-lock brake comment. It was indeed impossible to fully apply the brakes using the extension levers but in most cases that was okay. The bad part about the bikes I had that had the extension levers was the cheap brake lever mounts themselves didn't have a comfortable surface on the hoods for me to place my hands. It was either ride with your hands up top or down in the drops. Add a set of stem shifters to the extension levers and you were good for a relaxing cruise though.

The current interrupter levers are indeed cool and much more practical than the extension levers.

The problem with the extension levers is visible in the OP's photo of the Schwinn. The distance from the pivot for the extension lever to your hand is easily 3x to 4x the distance from the pivot to the real brake lever. To move the real brake lever, say, 1-inch you must lift the extension lever 3 to 4-inches. Which you can't necessarily do while keeping your hands on the bars.