Yo, muchachos -

Hat in hand here, for advice.

I plan to purchase an '05 Bianchi Pista in a couple weeks and will make changes on the stock set up. For starters, I'll be swapping Bontrager bullhorns for the classic drop bars and adding a front caliper brake (to be determined).

My question regards levers. I desire a compact trigger-style brake lever, like those made for mountain bikes or bmx. I've seen them on bikes at fixedgeargallery.com.

However, I've been told that mtn levers won't make it around the bends in the bullhorns. I don't plan on going all the way to the top with it, but to hang one on the left side, halfway between the top curve off the stem and the bar end. So it would really only have to navigate that first turn on the bar end.

Also - and this may be the deal-killer, if true - I'm told that they will not work properly with a road caliper brake. Rats!

But I don't necessarily believe that. Anyone with experience here to help a guy out? I'm willing to chop some of the bar ends off to make the curve, but will they work at all and if so, must I get a specific feature or brand with the brake lever?

Roll on. Thanks so much.

i use a tektro, it works great, and you don't have to slide it on since the clamp is hinged.

Brake levers designed for cantilever brakes (and I hear 'mini' v-brakes as well) will pull a road caliper just fine. However, brake levers designed for regular v-brakes won't, due to different amounts of cable travel.

If I remember properly... road brake levers with v-brakes won't pull enough cable, so your lever bottoms out before the brake pads engage enough, and v-brake levers with road brakes pull too much cable, making it way easy to rocket yourself over the bars and take a header.

I would just use bar-end levers. They're cheap and light, and feel very comfortable on a bullhorn bar. Basically it just plugs into the end of the handlebar and then expands for a tight fit.

I know you want the lever a little further down, but I don't think it's really a position where you'll have your hands when you want to brake. Plus with the bar end levers the brake hangs down far enough that you can reach it easily from about 3" from the end of the bar.

Have a look at the photo from Performance:
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=5225

A cyclo-cross lever works great and the plug at the end of the cable, which normally fits in your drop bar levers works without any fiddlin about. The Tektros I used had a hinged clamp also.

agreed. brake on the horn is much more useful. you get speed control and steering control from the same position. with cross levers, you have to choose between squeezing the brake and steering precision, but you often need both at the same time.

cane creek cyclo-cross levers have that hinged clamp as well. i've been using one on my 'horns for about a year now and it's great.

Dobber and Arcellus - you're talking about the Canecreek cross top levers, then? Will they work as a stand alone brake? Alexx, you're referring to something different?

Is it possible to hang a lever on a horn in-between where a cross top lever and bar-end lever would go? Or is this impossible/dumb idea...? Dobber, would the levers work you show in your post?

Thanks for the great input. I just need to sort this out.

Yea, they're referring to the crosstop style levers, there are many brands made. Salsa, Cane Creek, and Tektro all make levers that sit on the flats of your bar.
The other type of levers mount in the end of a bullhorn bar, so that the lever bends back toward you.

not exactly sure what you're asking. i had a tektro cross lever as a stand alone brake for a while, btu often found that i needed my brake when i was in hairy situations, and those were precisely the situations when i wanted my hands wide on the bars, not near the stem. i switched to a bar end lever (much like the ones you see the in moxfyre's link) and found it to be much more functional.

Gotcha, gotcha. Sounds like one or the other, then. So I have a decision to make. ... Thanks to you all very much for your help.

If you really want, you can put one out on the end of the horn and another up near the stem. The cyclo-cross lever was really introduced as a secondary lever to go between your regular road levers and the brake itself. Myself, I'm just running it up near the stem.

Maybe that's the answer - or at least worth a try. Setting a cyclocross lever out near the end of the bar seems to be the compromise I'm after between bar ends and across the top near the stem. I think. As long as it works with a caliper brake I'll give it a shot. They're relatively inexpensive when bought as singles. Thanks!

I like this:

I recently went from the TT lever in the end of the bullhorn to the cyclocross lever on the front part of the bullhorns. Great move for me. I ride on the top of the bars a lot more than I ride out on the horns.

Choose your lever depending on where your hands are most often located.

I tried a lever on the left flat for awhile, and it didn't work for me.
I now have a Tektro bar end lever on the right side of my Profile Design Stoker 26 bars, and I like it.