Brakes & Levers

I seek your collective wisdom. (I know there has been some breeze shot on the which side should the lever be on point before.)

I've had my Condor Pista (with the stock drop bars) for a little over a month so about to send it for its free first service. Step 1 is a given - bin the back brake - it was set-up with a flip-flop hub but it's been fixed from day one (I was a bit nervous so wanted the possibility of single speed).

The rest I am a bit undecided on. So, thoughts please, on the following:

1. Do I move the lever for the front brake to the left hand side? I'm used to front brake on the right right from previous bikes (both motorised and pedal power) but having right hand free for signalling and being able to apply the brake with left hand while using right hand for security access at work (on steep ramp) seems like a good plan. Will I find braking with my weak left a bit odd?

2. I definitely want to fit a brake lever on the flats of the bars. Should I keep the regular lever on the front as well (and retain the hood on the other side) and fit a cross lever or ditch the lever on the drop and fit a BMX jobbie? I'm a little unsure here as (a) I don't know whether I would prefer losing the hoods or keeping them - I ride on the hoods quite a lot but is that just because they are there? and (b) I have no cross lever so don't know whether it would make the front lever pretty much redundant.

For those of you with drops but only a lever up top - do you ride much with your hands in the middle position (i.e. where the hoods would be)?

Arghh. Decisions, decisions.

Leave it where it is.. otherwise your mates will crash your bike when they forget you've swapped the levers over..
Or, swap to a bmx lever on the left and leave the hoods for climbing. Just set them up as phantom levers.
Both my fixed bikes are setup as my road bike would be, except the Raleigh has no rear brake caliper or cable.

I ride half on the tops, half on the sides, half on the hoods and a little bit in the drops :)

So you ride like, 1.7?

Thats why hippy is fast, he rides a little of 1.5 times as much as everyone else.

p.s I have my leaver on the top on the left and at first missed the hoods but for round town don't miss them. I have no problem switching between bikes as far as left / right lever, I never even have to think about it. Try it, a lever an barrel nipple break cable will not set you back much. Try it if you don't like it go back to drop bar leavers and sell the BMX or cross lever.

p.p.s you don't need to run the drop lever to run the inline / cross lever they can be run on there own.

ffub So you ride like, 1.7?

161%

I changed to the left and had no probs.

Minor considerations:

BMX levers (Dirty Harry, Goldfinger) don't fit O/S bars and have less leverage than cross levers.

I'm using drops without hoods at the moment after years of either drops with hoods or bullhorns, and I'm finding it quite weird - I definitely can't accelerate as hard without something to pull up on, but I'm going to keep them for the time being as it means I can use the bike on the track if I take the brake off.

When I had drops I had front brake lever on the right - no bar tape and no hoods.... I ride with my hands on the stem however.... absolutely no reason for drops, so I changed them to those perfectly straight Nitto bars that HubJub do.... very nice and stable.

I changed to the left and really liked it....of the two hand signals the right turn signal is far more important to your safety.....with the brake on the left you can signal right and brake at the same time.....which is why I did it innit?

hope this helps

I thought you were a courier winston? Isn't it against the law for you to signal?

winston I changed to the left and really liked it....of the two hand signals the right turn signal is far more important to your safety.....with the brake on the left you can signal right and brake at the same time.....which is why I did it innit?

hope this helps

Yep thats one of the reasons I am a lefty

exenger....but there are times when you have to cross lanes of traffic to turn right, a confident hand signal coupled with plenty of speed seems to clear a path through the cars nicely.

hope this helps!

i put an odyssey chrome monolever on the right of my risers.
i like!
quite tempted to move it after hearing the signalling thing but its right handed?
thats a no then.

but im getting nitto b123's and will keep the monolever on the right of them prob.

Thanks for the help so far.

So, decision 1 taken. Front brake moves to the left.

We have a somewhat split jury on the rest.... Sounds like no hoods might not be so great.

There is nowt wrong with keeping the hoods do what works for you, expearement, just saying how we have our bikes set up.

Sure thing.

Always curious about what works and what doesn't. Until I got the pista I hadn't ridden drops since hoods existed....

I think best plan is keep hoods and two front brake levers (both on the left) for now and see whether I'm mostly on the cross-lever...

I was always weary of drops having riden bullorns of scorpion handlebars most of my life, but completly comverted now! Love that extra bit of speed you can get, and climbing on drops is much better than bullhorns!

Dirty harry lever (right hand side). Sorted.

I don't know if BuffaloBIll came up with it but to quote him

"bullhorns are people who find drops too complicated."

photoben I was always weary of drops having riden bullorns of scorpion handlebars most of my life, but completly comverted now! Love that extra bit of speed you can get, and climbing on drops is much better than bullhorns!

Dirty harry lever (right hand side). Sorted.

Presumably therefore no hoods? Just rest your mitts on the ramp where the hood would be if semi-relaxed riding?

hippy I thought you were a courier winston? Isn't it against the law for you to signal?

I find that a judicial erractic 'wobble' at just the right moment negates the need for hand signals I don't like taking my hands off the bars unless I absolutely have too

i have a pista, set mine up with front brake on R/H side with a crosstop lever on the same side, the hood on the left is still there but i punched out the pin to remove the lever.
works for me, i like having a brake available at each position, having 3 positions is good for longer rides.
i don't see how you can ride on the hood position for very long without the hoods there? you have to tip your wrists right forward which would piss re right off.

MrSmith i have a pista, set mine up with front brake on R/H side with a crosstop lever on the same side, the hood on the left is still there but i punched out the pin to remove the lever.
works for me, i like having a brake available at each position, having 3 positions is good for longer rides.
i don't see how you can ride on the hood position for very long without the hoods there? you have to tip your wrists right forward which would piss re right off.

I think from memory you have the same lovely sky blue as me....

I know what you mean about no hoods - would seem odd to me. But then I thought drops would be odd a couple of month ago. I also know what you mean about having a brake lever to hand whenever you need it...

I suspect the short term solution is to set up like you (but with the levers on the left) and see how much use the front lever gets after that. I don't ride much up on the flats at the mo' due to distance to the brake levers.

(On the other hand those goldfingers with no hoods do look pretty cool.....)

if you want a cross lever i have the l/h cane creek carbon crosstop lever going spare, it's for oversise bars though.
(can use it on either side, just flip it)

MrSmith if you want a cross lever i have the l/h cane creek carbon crosstop lever going spare, it's for oversise bars though.
(can use it on either side, just flip it)

That, sir, would be fantastic. I think my bars are 38.something mm which I suspect is oversize?

Backwardation [quote]MrSmith if you want a cross lever i have the l/h cane creek carbon crosstop lever going spare, it's for oversise bars though.
(can use it on either side, just flip it)

That, sir, would be fantastic. I think my bars are 38.something mm which I suspect is oversize?[/quote]

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