I want to run my fix with drops but I don't want to set it up with an road bike lever. I have seen a number of drop bars with a lever up on the flat part for the front brake. I can't run a mountain bike lever up there because the road bars are too fat. What kind of levers fit up there? Are they the levers cyclocross riders use? Can you use those cyclocross levers alone, or do you need the other lever out on the drops? Lots of questions. Thanks.

I use a cyclocross lever all by itself.

you could get a bmx lever with a hinge...sometimes they're made to fit oversized bars.

if you just have some old mtb or bmx levers lying around, you could try bending the clamp out a little - that's what i did and it worked perfectly. you'll probbly need to take a file to the inside part of the clamp where the gap is, because once you bend it, that part will still be preventing you from sliding it on the bar. you'll also probably need a longer bolt, but it might be worth it if you want to save some $...

-steve

how big is oversized? are you talking 31.0 clamp size? i used a diatech brake lever on a bike i built up for a friend. the bars have a 25.8 or 26.0 clamp size and the lever fit just fine with no modifications. there was a shim inside of the hinge and i'm sure if you removed that it could fit 31.0. the hinged levers are nice so you don't have to take the tape off the bar to remove it...

Yeah I just bent the **** out of a single BMX lever and put a longer bolt in it to make it work.

-Ryan

I tried to put on a Dia-Comp MX99 lever on to the drop h/bar on my fixie and I broke the aluminum lever body. Oops! Oh well, I'm getting it heli-arced at where I work so I'm not worried about it.

thats a sexy pinarello.

I actually turn a bar end shifter into a brake... make it friction... works awesome.. bars look nice and clean too

arsbars,

how does one go about doing this? sounds pretty nice.

fwiw, i run a dia-tech tech99 on my fix, and it fit my fairly-fat bars with nary a problem.

-rob

rig it up just like a shifter.. mines on my left.... goes to my front brake. use a shifter cable/housing and it will work. i know of about 5 people that do that

Fixed Up North,
Others have posted some interesting suggestions. The item you are thinking of and Fixer referred to is called a top mount lever. It was designed for cyclocross.

Thanks for all of the help. I may have to put this project on hold a bit... I just picked up a new frame for a geared road bike and I need to concentrate the funds on building that one up.

Here's what I did. I guess it's one of those aero like levers that go into the ends of the bars and ran the housing under the tape. I like it. It’s easy to use and keeps a low profile. The guy at my LBS sold me one for $15. I think a set is $30ish. Of course you may not want to listen to me. I'm having a little trouble typing this because I broke my collarbone last week in a crash. There was really nothing I could do. Good Luck.