# Old brake levers, with the second lever, and hoods?



## StillKeen (Oct 4, 2005)

Hi,

A friend has a new bike, a sort of ladies road bike, and it has brake levers like these. Now I'm pretty sure that she likes them, as she can brake without being on the hoods or drops. The bike is just for the odd sunday ride out to a local village for lunch sort of thing, not for 'training' or anything.

I'm about to tidy it up a little, and have some new bar tape and brake/shifter cables. I was in a hurry, and saw the levers were wienmann, so ordered a set of Cane Creek hoods that fit wienman levers, but then I saw they were like the ones in the photo.

Is it customary to just make the bar tape go over them a little, and then keep wrapping the tape on the bars?

Neither picture are of the bike or bars, I found these on google. The bike is the same, although her's is cleaner looking with none of the accessories on it.

Thanks.

-Chris


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

> Is it customary to just make the bar tape go over them a little, and then keep wrapping the tape on the bars?


Yeah, that's pretty much how it's done. If she's riding in the manner you describe, she'll never have her hands on the hoods anyway.

Those extension levers never worked all that well, but they're okay for the low sppeds you're talking about. Check the brake pads carefully, maybe use some sandpaper to take the glaze off, then adjust carefully, and if they still seem weak, consider some new pads. 20 bucks for some Koolstops will make a big difference.

If you really want to make it suit her, see if you can find some old upright bars - not the straight mountain bike style, but the old "priest" or "city bike" style. I fixed up a friend's old 10-speed that way, and she enjoys it much more now for just the sort of rides you describe.


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## StillKeen (Oct 4, 2005)

Thanks. I've seen another bike this week that has hoods with the holes in them. Not sure what they're called though, so hard to find on google. I'd like the bike to have hood covers on them if possible, just to keep it looking nice.

thanks


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Those levers are not designed for hoods. Even if you find some with holes in them, there's not enough room between the extension lever and the body to accomodate the thickness of rubber and still have the lever work properly. Keep in mind that drop bars were put on those bikes for reasons of faddish marketing only. They actually sabotaged the comfort of people who would buy these sort of bikes. So what you're dealing with is a kludge to allow casual riders to sit up comfortably. 

Judging from the height and angle of the bar, your friend would never miss the drops. I second JCavilia's advice for a city-bar conversion (something like the Albatross below) with the appropriate levers. It would get rid of that awful kludge and make the bike much more comfortable. It would also make it safer. Back in the day, these extension levers were also called "suicide levers" or "death grips" because they open the main brake levers. That reduces brake lever travel, of which you need as much as you can get with those old caliper brakes.

/w


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

They were universally called suicide levers. Lots of people who had them actually took a hack saw & cut them off. BTW, I don't know how old that bike is, but from what I can see it looks nice.


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## SlowJoeCrow (Sep 3, 2009)

Mr. Versatile said:


> They were universally called suicide levers. Lots of people who had them actually took a hack saw & cut them off. BTW, I don't know how old that bike is, but from what I can see it looks nice.


The hacksaw is a bit much, back in the day I just unscrewed them and then reset the brake cables. Although come to think of it there were some Japanese bikes that had the auxiliary levers made as a single forging so would have needed a hacksaw, unlike the Weinmann/Dia-Compe style shown here. 
For flat bare conversions, the Velo-Orange Belleville is a nice inexpensive option, I did a cheapskate conversion of an old Peugeot for a friend's daughter with those bars and some cheap thumb shifters.


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