singlespeed with only cross levers?
 

I ride a singlespeed downtown and I'm thinking of swapping out the aero brake levers for cross levers, since when I'm in traffic I usually ride with my hands towards the middle of the bars. I'm looking at either the Tektro levers or the more ergonomic-looking ones from Specialized. My question to anyone who rides with this set-up is: Do you ever find it difficult to balance when braking fast, since you're not as well-balanced as you would be with with your hands farther apart (as when using aero levers)? I realize I could just use the cross levers in an auxiliary capacity but I would prefer the profile sans-aeros. Is this a silly concern?

if you ride on the flat (top) of the bar, you'll be fine braking there.

i agree with sp00ki, i've used only cross levers for the past year and never had a problem with stability in braking situations.

Do you think cross-top levers would be suitable for use as the primary/only levers for a s.s. setup using Soma Sparrow bars?

Standard non-aero road levers would actually look better on those types of bars.

Yes

Agreed.

thats what I am using now

Thanks for allaying my concerns/humoring me. Sp00ki, I noticed in a thread about frame painting that you were going to check out paint shops in Philly -- did you find anyone helpful? I'm in the same area and I'm trying to decide between Duplicolor rattlecan vs. real automotive paint in a Preval canister vs. powdercoating, so talking to someone at a paint shop might be helpful.

I was running cross levers on the tops of the bar, but ended up moving them down. It was more convenient for lazy braking on short rides downtown where you stay upright. But on anything where I was going downhill, my natural inclination was to move my hands to the ends of the bars, where there were no brakes. I moved them back so that I would not die unnecessarily.

I run Midge bars, so the ends of the bars are actually flared drops.

i have a goldinger lever on a frontbrake only set up and never had any balance issues.