hi..

i've saved up over the semester and am looking to finally get started on fixed gears and getting an iro angus

the options on the website for braking mechanisms are only cross and drop. i'm interested in running bullhorns with a tt brake

so..

1. tt lever/brake recommendations for fixed gear bicycles? (my 'outside of stock build' budget is $100)
2. has anyone had experience asking if Tony would cater to a request like this and throw it in with the build? this is my first time buying a new bike :\...

- r

I've only heard good things about the guy who runs it or whatever so it might be worth asking, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Anyways, Tektro makes good and affordable stuff. You could try something like this https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=263602_263622

I guess your hub doesn't have the holes for a rotor? If, by an incredibly unlikely chance, it does, I would recommend this Avid's Mechanical BB7 brakes. They are rather cheap (~$40-4$5 with rotor) and unanimously considered the best mechanical disc brakes. An Avid Speed Dial 7 brake lever set would cost you about $20 (seen on Amazon), and it is, likewise, one of the best levers for the price.

You'd be within budget. And your bike would stop when you want it to.

I think the OP just needs a lever. Also, I imagine the OP wants to spend the leftover afterstock budget money on a good saddle/stem/pedals/whatever. Instead of spending his entire budget on a brake system. But maybe I completely misinterpreted the post.

I just installed a Soma Urban Cross lever and Tektro 520s... that setup works great. I bet the cheaper 3 series brakes would work well too.

Bike Island has a front brake kit for cheap--anyone here using it?

wroom: i looked around about posts concerning disc brakes and found the following..

... i'll have to check if the iro angus has these mountings; off the top of my head though, i don't remember seeing the proper mountings from photos of the frame i've seen.

edit: in any case, i live in south west new mexico. it's pretty dry around here and this will mostly be a commuting bike between home/university/market... so some cheap but reliable cantilevers/calipers should work fine for me.

thebikerollson: mm, i'm getting the mks silvan pedal kit from iro.. and hope that the bullhorns i have in my configuration will work well with whatever tt levers i get (those tektros looked good by the way)

what i need outside of my basic bicycle build (getting complete bike from iro):

1. front brake AND tt brake lever
2. cetma front rack
3. ... i really hope the seat comes with the complete build

ooh... like one of these? i'm intrigued. could that lever be fitted near the top-tube to act like a tt lever?

Yes, that's the same set.

Near the top tube? Do you mean near the end of your bullhorns?

Unfortunately, a stock Angus has neither the hub nor the fork for a disc brake setup. The BB7 recommendation is right on though, those are great brakes. I have run them on my monutain bikes for years (actually the same pair of them, which are now five years old), although the fixed setup I'm working on is going to run an 8" hydraulic (it's going to be . . . atypical).

The tricky thing about TT levers is that they are usually sold in pairs. I had a set of these that I got very inexpensively with a coupon or something (I think I paid $35 or $40 for the levers and a bullhorn bar - Nashbar had everything "Nashbar brand" on sale). I never installed them, and ended up selling the unopened levers and bars for about what I paid for them. If you really want to do this inexpensively, I think the Bike Island kit looks like a very good option. You can always run the cross lever near the stem on the bullhorns for now and upgrade if you don't like it or when you can locate a lever on the cheap. You might need a new brake cable if you do that, which isn't expensive.

If you feel comfortable with any of your local bike shops, you can always go in and ask if they have a single time trial lever in a bin somewhere from a takeoff or salvaged bike or something. Most shops accumulate lots of interesting misfit parts that they are willing to part with for almost nothing. This strategy works for me every once in a while, and it can start conversations that can help you make friends at the shop, which in turn will make them even more likely to want to sell you oddball parts.

i run a Cane Creek cross lever with a Cane Creek SCR-3L brake....that replaced a Tektro brake that while it works didn't have a whole lotta feel to it

The economy road brake kit from Bikeisland (the Tektro kit Ebay link from above) is a pretty good set for $30. No complaints here.

I paid about the same for my Cane Creek setup, except that I had a spare cable and housing

This is good advice.

It's also the only reason why I ever frequent LBSes anymore.

whatever you decide on, place your order asap. i waited until mid june last year, and then they went on vacation and i didn't get the frame until august.