Cross top lever set ups

man i am gonna sound a like a real kook here but..... would appreciate some help

cross top lever set up, so the cable comes through the front of the brake though the barrel adjusted and then sits where exactly?

is there a special cable that's used?

tried to search threads and net but to no avail...

cheers again

Awight Dayno
Use pear (nipple) end brake cables:

they should fit snug into the hole on your cross-stop levers.
Do not get barrel ends!

hey man thanks, good looking out

My cable has quite a bulky nipple, go for one similar to Zep's picture, and it will fit nice and snug

Vinyl Villan, where did you get those levers from? Are they the Tektro ones but powder coated or sprayed or something?

Cane Creek crosstops , taken to Armourtex for powdercoating (after i had dismantled them!)

@VV - cheers man, yeah thats how i had it set up but didn't have any tension on the brake...

yeah defo go with the zeps suggestion

easy man

dan

I've got my Crosstop lever ready to go on my frame when I pick it up tomorrow. I got a cable with the barrel end on it and grinded it to a round cylinder shape similar to a gear cable end. Fits into the recess of the lever nice and clean now with the rubber piece removed.

Im thinking of getting one crosstop lever to add to my road bike. (Using drop brakes while signalling on roundabouts etc is just too challenging)

Do you reckon its better to have the extra lever for the back or front brake?

if it is for minor use such as roundabouts, and not actually stopping, a back brake sounds more sensible for control, but wouldn't be as effective as a front brake for slowing down.

I bought some cross top levers from SJS:http://www.sjscycles.co.uk//images/products/12644promax_xl.jpg
I'm trying to sort out the proper cables for these without running drop levers with them. The problem I'm having is that the normal large nugget cables http://media.rei.com/media/916388.jpg
(large nugget top, pear shape bottom)
are too big to fit into the lever, the 'pear shape' cables stick out quite a way (meaning that only the thin part of the nugget is touching the lever) and gear cable nuggetshttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3126DG0MYTL._SL500AA280.jpg
are far too small.

This is what my levers look like with the pear shapes cables in
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/3202390779_28408c5da1_b.jpg

Has anyone found cables that fit perfectly or is my best bet to use pear shapes and have them sticking out?

I found this image
http://img.en.china.cn/0/0,0,210,20660,680,510,9f450912.jpg
but I don't know which cable I'd need or where to get them from. I think the 4th from the bottom looks like it might be best, but it might just be as small as a gear cable.

What you've got looks little different to the way the Tektro levers are set up on a stock Charge Plug and other OTP bikes (not a guarantee of quality, or ascetics, but presumably they've considered the legal implications of a fundamentally unsafe brake set up). Pure cross top levers are not designed to have the cable terminate with any kind of nipple at all, but for the cable to run on and into primary levers, some specify that using them without a primary lever invalidates any warrantee / liability. Presumably this does apply to the Tektro. However, whatever your set up, it should be impossible to pull the nipple off the cable, or pull it through the brake. Maybe someone else here knows why using Cross top levers on their own is a bad idea, and how/why they could fail?

If you find someone selling a larger range of cable nipples please let me know as I’ve got a Salsa Halter Top lever with a pear nipple sticking out and you can see the thin bit (brakes fine though).

If you are feeling brave you could always make your own: http://www.trialsbits.co.uk/index.php?cPath=65

Well I'm certainly not brave enough to use the stuff on that site! If I was going to make my own cables then I'd definitely do some research into it and find the best way to solder/weld (i.e. permenantly attach the nipple to the cable) to make sure there was no chance of failure.

I'm not concerned that my current setup could fail, but I do think that they levers could ware unduly from using the pear shaped cables and it looks pretty ugly. I did consider making some sleeves for the cable nipples to sit in, but I don't want to do anything that will effect the performance of the brakes.

I'm not sure about the bikes that come with them as the only form of brake lever and the legal side of things. I'd rather ignore it and allow a good thing to keep happening!

Could I possibly jump in here with a marginally related question??? I'm wanting to run cross top levers with v-brakes and the Tektro RL520's, so no issues around nipples etc. But all I can find are the Paul's Engineering cross top levers that are adjustable for long or short pull brakes. They'd be perfect but the $108 plus shipping price tag is pretty off putting.

Does anyone know of any other options or has anyone modified, maybe bent/repositioned, the lever on short pull cross tops to make them longer pull?

maybe look into v-brake pulley wheels, i am sure there is a proper name for them, they sit in place of the 90 degree pipe, and allow more cable to be pulled.

http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/brakes.html at the bottom of the page.....not sure if they ever worked.

The other solution is to use mini v-brkes as these require less cable pull to operate, OR i have a lovely set of NOS Shimao STX-RC Cantilever brakes which i might be persuaded to part with........

I've been running only the Specialized cross-tops on both my fixed gears. They've been absoutely fine.

I've got cables similar to the bottom 4 in Bike destroyer's picture, and they sit fully in the space. They might even be gear cables but they are the same size as brake ones. just get the biggest size which is no wider than a cable outer

1 Attachment

So which ones are the biggest ones that still fit in the space of a cable outer.

Erm, dunno - just measure an outer.
I appear to have ordered one of these in the past, so it could well be this:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=1736

maybe look into v-brake pulley wheels, i am sure there is a proper name for them, they sit in place of the 90 degree pipe, and allow more cable to be pulled.

http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/brakes.html at the bottom of the page.....not sure if they ever worked.

The other solution is to use mini v-brkes as these require less cable pull to operate, OR i have a lovely set of NOS Shimao STX-RC Cantilever brakes which i might be persuaded to part with........

Thanks for the help but I've tried, and sold on, the Travel Agent pulley wheels, to use them with cross tops and road levers I'd need to go for normal pull road levers not the Tektro RL520's. Buying Travel Agents, more road levers and regular cross tops would cost more than buying the Pauls lever option. STI/Ergo aren't a consideration because it's a hub gear bike. The Travel Agents worked fine but they were for a drop bar conversion on another bike, but they were faffy to set up and not easy to adjust. I found I didn't like the drop bar setup, due to positioning on the hoods and found the flats too narrow, actually the drops were the only comfy part. However I've decide to give the Midge bars a go, dummy runs so far suggest it's all good. The extra width, and the flaring, seem to have solved my comfort issues. I'd just really like the assurance of top levers for when I'm pootling in traffic, even if I only do one brake. I'm disappointed that Tektro don't do a long pull top lever to compliment the RL520. It's not the end of the world becasue I still have 2 braking positions on the bars anyway, I'm just being a bit belt and braces.

Having looked at images of Pauls lever online it's adjustable for long/short pull by repositioning the pivot point. I'm tempted to have a go at bodging this myself on some cheapie ones. If there's room I'll drill out a new pivot point and put a new pin in. If not maybe a bend in the lever to allow further pull and remove any lever stop points. Was just hoping that someone may have done similar and could help me avoid any obvious errors...cheers.....Al

BlueQuinn; What's the bar tape you're using in that picture?

Has anyone got any experience of running a front short-drop (regular drop?) 2010 Shimano road brake, e.g. an Ultegra or Dura-Ace brake, with a cross lever? I note that they've changed the cable pull ratio on the new versions and that they specify certain matching STI levers to work.

Is that irrelevant with cross levers (e.g. Tektro or Paul) - is it just that you shouldn't use mismatching STI lever models?

my cross tops feel much harder (less throw) and less powerful than the down lever any way - which is fine for everything except steep decent - when i'd really want my hands behind those curves anyway. it makes me think most cross tops are designed for use with v bakes. - and they won't have changed the pull ratio by much anyway - i'd say go for it.

do you know what the change in ratio is and which way?

I doubt if most cross tops are designed to work with V brakes as there are only a couple of drop levers made for V brakes. Most drop levers and all STIs are made for non V brakes (cantis or standard road callipers) as far as I know.

Well, I know "normal" cross levers are short pull, for caliper/cantilever brakes, and then you get some that are long pull for V-brakes like the Paul Love Lever. I was just wondering if the changes to the Shimano caliper brakes would cause problems with a normal short-pull cross lever.

On my everyday fixed bike I have a Shimano R650 with a Tektro RL726 alone (no drop levers) and it works a treat - loads of stopping power. I'm planning a nicer project bike and I'd been thinking of using an Ultegra 6700 or DA 7900 front brake, which is when I saw this in the description:

"Dual-pivot caliper brake with super SLR design for quick linear response, increased rigidity and improved braking power and must be used in conjunction with 7900 or 6700 STIs for correct leverage ratio."

And that's what got me wondering. I know they've changed the amount of cable the new shifters pull (to make little ring to big ring shifts easier), and at the same time they've changed the lever pivot to make the brakes easier to use on the hoods, so I guess the latter change might have something to do with it. There's probably not going to be much in it, is there?

I might go for a 6600 SL anyway, depending on what colour the bike ends up...

So a cross top lever is strong enough to close a small Shimano brake?