# Question about Brake Levers



## shamrock1213 (May 9, 2011)

I'm new to this, so this may be a stupid question. I noticed that on many of the cheaper Bikes Direct road bikes (the ones in my price range), they have the hybrid/mountain bike style brake levers in addition to the ones integrated with the shifters. On the bikes that have both kind of levers, are both sets operational? Is it possible to easily remove the the hybrid/mountain bike style shifters?

I'm looking for my first road bike to ride for cross-training, commuting, and possibly a tri. Right now, I am debating between the Moto Mirage Sport, Windsor Wellington 3.0, Mercer Galaxy 3.0, and Dawes Lightning DLX.


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## Cyclist69 (Apr 15, 2011)

I would think the integrated Brake/ Shifters are only setup to shift. You should be able to remove the brake levers and setup the shifters so they also do the braking as designed. If you’re new to road bikes, I think you might appreciate not having to adjust your hand position to stop your bike in an emergency situation as your natural posture will be to keep your hands on the top of the bars as you ride. 

On how difficult of a job it would be, that would depend on your mechanical abilities.


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## LongIslandTom (Apr 20, 2011)

shamrock1213 said:


> I'm new to this, so this may be a stupid question. I noticed that on many of the cheaper Bikes Direct road bikes (the ones in my price range), they have the hybrid/mountain bike style brake levers in addition to the ones integrated with the shifters. On the bikes that have both kind of levers, are both sets operational? Is it possible to easily remove the the hybrid/mountain bike style shifters?


Those are called "cross brake levers," since they were first introduced on cyclocross bikes. They are not really MTB-style brake levers, since they seem to mount much closer to the handlebar.

On a bike that has both cross brake levers and the STI levers, both sets are operational.

The cross brake levers are actually installed along the STI levers' cable runs, and will pull the same brake cable.

Scroll down to near the bottom of this page: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/brake-levers-drop.html

Funny thing is, I don't see cross brake levers on the photos nor in the specs lists at the BikesDirect pages for those bikes you mentioned.


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