Question about cross levers
 

I recently installed some forte cross levers for a friend of mine. We installed them as the only brake lever as opposed to aux levers. I used a standard road brake cable and the end stuck out of the lever by about 1/4". Is it just the cheap levers? Should I use a different kind of cable (we tried a bmx style cable, but it didn't work either)? Should we just man-up and live with it?

That's to be expected.

I wouldn't use that because as far as I know, your brake probably isn't set up for the end that the drop bar brake cable has.

I tried that setup and it worked fine as far as stopping the bike. I switched to something else for comfort reasons, but I don't see a problem with it.

That brake is meant to have the cable run thru it not have it end at it. So there is not a proper recess for the cable end. But the only "problem" is aesthetic. Black it out with a Sharpie and no one will be the wiser.

i had the same problem. What i did was i ran a shifter cable (like the ones you run on the DT shifters) through it instead of the brake cable. slightly thinner gauge wire, the end is smaller and it fits perfect in there. Have had no problems braking even though it's a thinner gauge.

Except there's a reason why there are different cables for brakes and shifters.

I had the same problem as well with a tektro cross lever. I just ground down the nub till it was more or less flush with the lever. I've had no problems with it and it looks fine. Cheers