Though there might be a stigma attached to the dual position brake lever, I agree with the comments of some of the BF members. If your wheels are true and the brakes are properly adjusted, the brakes are pretty good. Good enough for me to install them on Single Speed builds. Again, as mentioned, the second brake position does allow the rider a more upright sitting position while still having immediate access to the brake lever. That said...

I have found that some levers are better than others. The Weinmann units that I find on Canadian made Peugeots are about the best, offering the least amount of flex. Additionally, the second lever is solidly attached and not prone to falling off as is the case with other dual position levers.

I used to pitch these DP levers out but not any more. My simple experience is, non-enthusiasts (the person who just wants a cool old bike for basic transportation) could care less if the bicycle is a Colnago or a Free Spirit. But, more often than not, they will like the idea of the dual position lever, which I believe is what we are all referring to as Turkey or Safety Levers.

PeugeotSportB4H_56_SafetyLever.jpg

PeugeotSportB4H_56_BarsTQFront.jpg

The other thing about these levels is that one cannot ride "on the hoods" (there are no hoods), which is a comfortable upright position. Plus with the gain of popularity of MTB and the appearance of hybrids, the crowd who really likes upright riding had more comfortable and safer choices as early as in the mid-80s.

I find cyclocross interruptor levers very useful for city riding and commuting when you are wearing a heavy backpack, or you don't want to get too stretched out, or you are carrying something in one arm, etc. And they get your weight farther back for panic stops. I would recommend them to any fan of turkey levers, as they offer all the benefits with none of the serious drawbacks.

Actually, I have run across several sets of dual position levers that were fitted with hoods. Also, I have two sets of NOS hoods tucked away and they are designed for the same levers. And remember, the dual position lever was popular in the early seventies, long before the mountain bicycle came into its own.

And, as for the NOS hoods that will fit dual position levers... They are offered regularly on Ebay and, it figures. I just did a search and they are not offered for auction at the moment.

I'm somewhat anal retentive about leaving things in their original state.(tires and brake pads, aside) I have a P8 that came with turkey levers and would never remove them. (they're weinmans and work fine) If it came with it then it stays...EXCEPT, if a dork disk is yellowed out from the uv rays, then it's a gonner. There's no use in trying to make a bike something it isn't. You're not fooling anyone.

I agree with the philosophy of keeping things original, provided the notion is not nurtured in the Land of Black and White. I always install modern pedals simply because that vastly improve ride quality for me.

I will not ride a bicycle that has an uncomfortable saddle installed (the old Peugeot UO8 often offered the AGDA suspension leather butt perch. I hate that saddle and will never torture my rear end with one again, original to the bike or not.

As an old guy, suffering for lack of a better word, from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both wrists, I refuse to wrap my bars with cloth tape. I opt for more modern cushion tape but brands which have a vintage appearance to them. I include padded half gloves in this hand protecting scenario.

Yup, keep em 100% original if possible, provided you do not intend to ride them and seek the performance they can offer. For me, I seek to enjoy the ride and I ride often. And when it is time for pictures, if I deem it to be necessary, I can always put the period and model correct stuff back on the bike.

I just sold a bike with turkey levers. The buyer said she wouldn't buy a bike without them. I confess to having a disdainful thought, but of course, I held my tongue. So I guess I haven't shed all my snobbery yet.

It's not that I object to them, it's just that I don't find them completely necessary.

safety levers just do not stop well
Bologna. Like all other blanket statements, this is also not true all the time. I had a '78 Motobecane Super Mirage and it had the 2ndary levers on it and I could flat stop on a dime with them. Maybe the dept store bikes or schwinns were no good, but lets not get all ugly and trash them all. Some were good. I know.

Bingo. If you want "safety levers", set your bike up with some brake levers that'll actually work.

yeah, I miss feathering the brakes from the side while riding on top of the drops with those levers but you have to adjust them just right.

I spent a good half of my college years in the 80's riding around campus on my older brother's Sears (Free Spirit??) "depaartment store bike, before i could afford my first "real" bike. As iwth many other things that weren't perfect, It's amazing how one can adapt to the situation and make them all work out so you don't end up killing yourself. In the end, it's really up to the rider on how they deal with it. Just as I had to adapt to driving our old 75 Ford LTD we had back then with it's wallowing supension and marshmallow handling....I think it was the same deal with the Sears bike and I still had fun riding both!.....It's not ike turkey levers are as possibly/instantly fatal as those famous "death forks" were!
JMOs

Chombi

these are the kind of levers I am looking for, the aero style would be a huge bonous too!

It's a shame that this thread has not been updated in 8 years! What is a C&V forum without more pictures of turkey levers? Plus you need rat trap pedals to complete the look with turkey levers. My first ten speed--a low end Nishiki--came with turkey levers and rat trap pedals and I rode that bike everywhere and survived. . . .

My latest bike--a mid to early 70s Sekine SHS 271--has them. The bike is pretty much all stock other than the consumables and the saddle. The parts cleaned up great and the bearing surfaces are all in perfect shape. I did have to hunt down a few parts to finish the build though. This bike is sweet with a tange champion frameset, shimano forged drop outs, and a shimano mid range parts (shimano 333 hubs, shimano tourney brakes and levers, titlist rear derailleur) :

Looks like a decent old Japanese bike to me. Nice chrome, looks like forged drops in the rear, Sun Tour derailleurs or is it Shimano? Neat crankset though sourcing rings may be difficult. Pedals look a lot like the Atom 440 pedals that were on loads of bikes -- probably MKS or SR, I suppose. Pedals of that style are still made and used by many of us. MKS Sylvan touring pedals -- decent pedals that are inexpensive and can be serviced

Personally, I'd lose the "safety" levers. Even though I'm 67 and have a gigantic big fat gut, it's not difficult or uncomfortable for me to easily reach the brakes on a bike set up not much different from that one. But, whatever suits you.

Turkey levers were fitted to some half decent touring bikes for a while in the 1970s. I bought a 1978 Carlton Corsair a few years ago that had them, and the Dawes Galaxy had them for a while too.

I converted the Corsair to fixed gear, and then transferred everything to a Raleigh Royal frame because the Carlton turned out to have bent forks- as well as the worst paint job I've ever seen. I retained the turkey levers partly to annoy people and partly because I quite like having them.


2017-09-03_04-08-56 by RichardB5, on Flickr

It's a really nice Japanese frame with tange champion double butted tubing and shimano forged drop outs front and rear. The running gear is almost all Shimano (titlist rear derailleur, tourney brakes, 333 hubs) and the crank is an odd silstar with a 3 degree taper. Once it goes, it won't be easy to replace because the BB is 70mm. The pedals are MKS.

I just took the bike out on its "maiden" voyage (it probably hasn't been ridden in over 3 decades and lived most of its life under a drop cloth in storage). The bike rides great and the turkey levers are nice for modulating speed. They cannot be removed by the way. On the old Shimano levers, they are integral to the brake lever.

I have an early 1970's Schwinn Paramount that came from the factory with turkey wings and Twin-Stik shift levers mounted ahead of the steering axis to the upper headset. All works great!

I've fitted the rubber hoods to several bikes with these levers, some playing around with spacer washers is needed in some cases.
On Shimano's early Dura-Ace version, the turkey lever is the main lever(!) and the regular lever acts as auxiliary. Needless to say, these require some internal disassembly/reassembly to get the hoods installed, with holes trimmed in the right places and with a very large cutout for the big retaining screw that rotates as the brake is actuated!

Bbattle suggested that today's auxiliary (cable interrupter style) "actually work", but in fact their design is compromised by a big reduction in leverage versus the main levers. All of my "turkey wing" auxiliary levers work smoothly at about the same leverage as the main levers, and provide huge stopping power with the original calipers used on the bikes that have such levers.
I've raced cyclocross using either type, and found them all to be quite good enough, providing added safety when descending steeper sections. Brake pad selection would offer more of a difference in braking performance than lever type, but the turkey wing levers require less force to actuate, all else being equal.

I agree -- it appears obvious to me that it's a nice quality frame.

About that bottom bracket -- if you had to replace the crankset, it might be real possible to find a square taper spindle, either ISO/Campy taper or Japanese taper, that would fit with the current cups. Probably could find a spindle made for an Italian set that would work. Also, Raleigh Nottingham bikes had 70mm BBs and though most of those used cottered cranks, there were some square taper spindles that would fit. I found this out by surprise, recently, when I salvaged parts from a smashed late 70s Raleigh of some sort that had a Raleigh branded SR alloy crankset. Turned out the cups were the Nottingham 26tpi (and appeared identical to Raleigh Sports cups) and when I measured the bb it came out to about 70 mm. I'm sure there are other options to get a BB to fit.

Last year I serviced my wife's 1971/1972 Fuji S-10-S. I took the turkey levers off and was told to put them back on the brakes; after all, it is her bike.

This was being ridden by a gentleman in his 80's I believe, had them installed to acheive upright riding. You would have thought he would have had the bar flipped to the top of the stem.

If I had that bike, I'd use those levers if the alternative were not riding that bike. If it were any other stem than that, I'd probably go for a Nitto geezer stem replacement rather than the "safety" levers

It is sort of an odd arrangement, one must admit, that track style stem with those levers and "rando" style bars. Probably not many examples in the entire world. Particularly with cloth tape wound from the top down.

Yep, odd to say the least. I got the original levers with it and will change bars, maybe Cinelli or plain old chrome steel, we'll see. Richard Schwinn said many bikes were spec'd with this stem even though it was originally a track stem. I could have bought the bike for way less without it but despite being fugly, they are one of those things I think you should get your hands on if presented. I already have some correct M Kint maes bars and Titan stem so I have many options and those will go on at some point.

Also, I get it and actually kind of like it in a convoluted sort of way

FWIW it wasn't that unusual to see people riding those old adjustable stems on road bikes as late as the early 80s. It was old fashioned by then, but people did it. Using rando bars with it is a bit unusual, but it makes sense to get the height up a bit. Not sure if the adjustable stems are stable if you flip the bars to the top.

Its possible, I am going to find out right off the bat as I'm going to flip it over to test before I change anything else as I wondered about that as well. Can't imagine it won't be ok, solid steel 1930's boat anchor technology, gotta be pretty tough and sturdy I would think.

[QUOTE=merziac;20373383]Yep, odd to say the least. I got the original levers with it and will change bars, maybe Cinelli or plain old chrome steel, we'll see. Richard Schwinn said many bikes were spec'd with this stem even though it was originally a track stem. I could have bought the bike for way less without it but despite being fugly, they are one of those things I think you should get your hands on if presented. I already have some correct M Kint maes bars and Titan stem so I have many options and those will go on at some point.

Also, I get it and actually kind of like it in a convoluted sort of way

Cinelli bars are always nice, but my wag is that stem was probably made with 25.4mm steel bars in mind.

My initial impression of that stem was that it was insanely cool, in a Roller Ball sort of way, but upon reflection, if it were my bike and I needed to get my hands a little higher, I probably would get a long Nitto stem to match those bars.