cut to the chase: have you cut off the protruding swivel peg which receives the screw holding suicide levers in place? how did you? have you done this often? are there any issues to consider?

back story: oh my god, seattle craigslist has been slim pickins this summer. i haven't found anything in my price range ($200) worth wrenching. but then a girl friend (not 'the,' but 'a') needed an entry level bike to bug about town. well, there seem to be plenty of those for $100 if you can make it out to the burbs. i found two for her to choose: a fuji palisade mixte and a schwinn world, at $60 each. they're pretty nice for what they are -- suntour, alloy rims, valite tubing, etc. and both have suicide levers. she and i both wanted to scrap them and add gum hoods. but this being my first experience with these levers, i didn't realize there was a protruding peg, over which the suicide lever rotates. seems i've bitten off a little more than i can chew.

i'm giving both bikes the full overhaul treatment, so at least i'm getting my 'wrench-fix' until this hot weather and poor bike market blow over. i know, i know, i should be riding instead...

You can indeed simply cut down the pull-up stud and discard the screws, washers and bushings. The only issue would be cosmetic, but since you will be using hoods the raw cut ends will be covered so that won't be an issue for you. If you were not using hoods you could get new shorter studs designed to be used without the safety levers.

This is what you have:

This is what you want to end up with:

I always just trim the hood around where the stud protrudes. 10 second job.

But anymore, for less than the price of repop hoods, I just get aerolevers instead. Much nicer to ride with, less work, etc.

There is nothing wrong with this but fairly nice levers with hoods new and used a cheap and plentiful about $10 online or basically free at most bike coops. So depending on the bike I leave the safety levers or change out the levers. Just hacking them off is kinda half baked.

Best way to do it... But that still leaves you with a more or less sub standard set of levers - If you can afford it get another set of levers all together...

I recommend adding Cane-Creek hoods and keeping the auxilliary levers.
Careful trimming of the hoods, and adding a thin spacer-washer as needed, can make for a robust installation.
This allows comfortable braking from a more-aggressively set up rider cockpit, i.e. with a more-foreward rider position, still with safe braking when riding atop the bars in rest/recovery or downhill mode.
It also greatly expands any road bike's off-road potential when it comes to safe descending on steep trails.

Auxiliary levers together with hoods are compatible with tradional (non-aero) Mafac, Weinmann/DiaCompe and even some Dura-Ace levers!

For restoring the original amount of lever travel that some aux levers take away from, you can just trim a few millimeters off of the front-most part of the lever body, the flat edge where the lever(s) smack into when you release your grip on either brake lever.

Some of the Weinmann/DiaCompe aux-lever-equipped lever bodies were even trimmed this way at the factory, restoring the full lever throw travel and thus dismissing the need for calling aux levers "suicide levers".

Good setup, cabling and brake pads go a long way to giving aux levers more power than you can use.

I have come to like the look, what do you say?

of the two bikes described, one lever set has removable studs, and the other set's studs are fixed/welded in place. where do i get studs, solving the issue for at least the one build?

i've only been rebuilding classics for a few years. when i started, this is what i did -- replaced the levers with cane creek scr-5 aero models. i agree they are a lot more comfortable. but i've come to realize i lose something, too much of that vintage aesthetic. this is true even with using the gum hood version of the aero lever. it's a little weird, because, on the one hand, i hate anything on the bike not serving a useful purpose (extra brake cable sweeping up into the air), and on the other hand, i'm left feeling i've discarded the look and feel of originality.

i don't, however, feel any warm feelings for suicide levers.

about trimming the hood and leaving the stud ... i just thought this would look unfinished.

"no, it's fully baked." - ben, 'the graduate,' answering his dad after he told his parents he was marrying elaine without first asking her. i love that line. anyway, i kind of agree, but, then again, i like repurposing and streamlining these original levers to the bikes.

if i cut the stud, are the levers substandard, or were they substandard to begin?

i say, "great job." and thank you for taking the time to explain. i appreciate your work. there's just something about the auxiliary levers that rubs me the wrong way.

If the levers are either Weinmann or Dia-Compe, these will work: https://www.ebay.com/itm/330953037793

I looked for a good set of DiaCompe turkey levers- I like 'em.

I like the turkey levers, too. Not enough to install them on a bike that didn't come equipped that way, but enough to leave well enough alone if they are already there. I just don't get what is so terrible about having the option of using your brakes when you're up on the flats.

Anybody?

Well...if the breaks are not set up right, significantly reduced braking. I use my s-levers all the time, but to get any kind of leverage I have to 1) mount the levers high enough on the bars that they are not confortable to reach on the drops and 2) the pads are so close to the rim I never know if my centerpulls have moved off and I'm rubbing one side just a little.

N00bs have them on cheap bikes.

thanks for the link!

but at ten bucks, i might as well buy another set of used levers.

god, i'm cheap. but yeah, i can see spending the $10 trying to keep the current levers for originality or other reason.

this reminds me ... i have a bad habit of selling or trading stuff i later need...

There's pretty good money in buying tired mixtes and reconditioning them! I buy every one I can find for under $75, sometimes spending up to $125.00.

OK, I guess my big, strong hands and penchant for buying decent quality brake pads gives me an advantage here. And only two of my current dozen bikes have the turkey levers on them. But every time I ride one of them, I find myself using them, and thinking, "Heh. That's kind of convenient."

If you have a friendly LBS that has any sympathy at all for old bikes, they should have a bin full of Weinman/Dia Compe lever take-offs; and with any luck, some of them will be non-turkey style. You should be able to get a pair of totally ratched levers, with the short studs [i.e. pivots], that you can transplant to your better condition levers, for next to nothing.
Heck, I'd send you a pair from my stash, except it's in long term storage in Michigan, and I'm here in Switzerland.

why?on a $60 bike

i like that: "non-turkey style." and this is just what i did, got my hands dirty in the lever bin at 'recycled cycles,' here in seattle. they usually go for $5 a set, but i found three matching pairs of non-turkeys for $5 all together. the ones i'm putting on the fuji are really pretty drilled dia-compes.

so if anyone needs two sets of levers with turkey length pivot studs, i know a guy...

oh, life is hard!

btw ... about hood installation ... the girl didn't want to spring for new bar tape, so i installed the new levers in the old clamps and housings to avoid untaping the cork wrap. can i install the new hoods with the levers already mounted? the only way i've done it is with the brake removed, by pushing the rear of the brake through the front of the hood. and i've never needed to use powder to get them in place.

Basicaly there is no good way or even possible way I can figure to install new hoods without removing the levers in most cases reataping on on most bike exspeciallaly vintage stuf you will need to rerun the cables there is just no way around it. So if you rebuilding it is just best to get the hoods wrap and cables and do it all at ounce.

I install hoods onto installed levers all the time.

I spray a little rubbing alcohol in the hood and on the lever, and the hoods slide right on from the front.

The ferrule then gets pushed down into place from above (again using a little alcohol to ease sliding into the hood's hollow tip) as the housing is being installed from above.

I was thinking it might not be easy removing/installing the lever from an installed, taped lever body.
Removing the pivot shaft requires removing the bolt that holds the lever body to the clamp, so much care would be needed to avoid disturbing the bar wrap.
Not saying it can't be done, it can be done, but could be a challenge to re-secure that mounting screw afterward.
Ok, if your tape has already been secured with finely-wrapped twine...

Turkey levers are the bomb. Pretend not to be a racer, yet race, if you're inclined, using turkey levers!
Just polish those turkey levers, they deserve it!

Auxilliary road brake levers were re-invented by a European cyclocross racer named Runkel (back in the '90's, I believe).
Production "interrupter" CX aux levers then hit the market so as to be compatible with integrated shifters.
But the traditional Weinmann/Dia-style "safety" levers still offer the simple, lightweight and lowest-cost solution while retaining so many bike's originality to a "T".
Here's my off-road-going Miyata Six-Ten, using the original Turkey levers with some Shimano hoods added on. I couldn't descend mountain bike trails without them!

dddd: "I was thinking it might not be easy removing/installing the lever from an installed, taped lever body..."

yeah, it wasn't 'easy,' but it worked. i had a bit of troubled finding the clamp nut with the screw, but it worked.

thanks for the confidence in installing the hoods on the mounted levers. i'll give it a shot. i was wondering about the ferrule -- thanks for the tip (no pun intended).

---------
in related news ... my newish cane creek aero lever's quick release pin fell out while i was stupidly playing with it while riding the other day. i called cane creek tech support, and they quickly sent me a new pin, which installed pretty easily (though i had to remove the lever from the bar). pretty damn good customer service, i'd say...

Ain't it though...

I'm glad I had advice that someone found helpful for a change. Sounds like a good score on the drilled levers. I'm generally a fan of the traditional Weinmann/Dia Compe levers, since there's a guaranteed supply of replacement used parts, and new hoods, at decent prices, for the foreseeable future. But the generic non-perforated, non-drilled levers are a little cheesy looking on an above entry-level vintage bike. I supposed that could be addressed with only moderate difficulty with a little treatment a-là DrilliumDude followed by a jolly good Khatfulling, i.e. right down through the gnurled surface leaving only smooth shiny metal.

i finally finished both bikes. this is how the schwinn turned out.



with some really comfy fizik tape in silver, the cockpit is now the best thing about the bike ... even with stem shifters!