Floppy SRAM S500 lever. Solution?

I've just received a pair of SRAM S500 levers to replace my hopelessly uncomfortable TRP levers.

They look great but I didn't realise the S500 levers are unsprung.

As I run a single front brake on my Steamroller, the LH lever will flop about when fitted.

Has anyone ever come up with a clever way to get around this?

My best idea so far is to run a chopped brake cable in reverse through the lever and cap this with a grub screw thingy from a dropper post.

I'm reluctant to remove the lever as it's nice to rest your hands there. I'd also rather not epoxy/bind the lever if possible as I may, one day, run two brakes on the Steamroller.

Help welcomed with open arms.

I had a similar problem and came up with the very elegant solution of stuffing the body of the lever with electrical tape. Worked fine for years!

I wrapped some black elec tape round the top of the lever and the hood. Rose them like that for a couple of years. Fairly discreet and easily removed.

I used a rubber eraser, cut it up into a suitable shape and jammed in in there. I've since sold the bike, but if I remember correctly, I had to tesselate a couple of pieces for it to hold in place and fully fill the hole at the bottom of the lever. It had the added benefit that if I accidentally pulled on the lever, it would spring back into place, unlikely electrical tape which could break or stretch.

Here is the biro spring trick although the photos don’t appear any more.

Edit: I just wrapped black insulation tape over the top of the lever (but under the hood cover) when I owned some.

Zip tie for me.

I use an inner cable and about 3cm of outer cable and used one of these at the end of the cable. Everything sits under the hoods so you don't notice it

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Lever-bell hack is the only permissable course of action.

DING!

I thought about complicated solutions to this for ages. Then I decided to use a chunky black elastic band (I think this came with an inner tube) and it works so well I can't be bothered to change it.

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I also think you could use a bit of elastic cord and a cord-lock toggle. Put the toggle inside the lever body and pass the cord through to the lever blade; tie a knot and have this sit where the inner cable pear-shaped end thing would be.

I did something similar to this on mine knotted an elastic band, passed it through the cable entry hole and then slipped it between the clamp and bars to secure.
I'd go for something elasticated just in case you absent mindedly do 2-handed braking!
Previously I did the same as @kjlem but with the bit from inside a choc block electrical connector (replacing the cap-heads with socket screws)

this worked fine till I grabbed the brakes then it moved a little bit and introduced a buzz

this worked fine till I grabbed the brakes then it moved a little bit and introduced a buzz

Yes this happened to me too. I think the best would be to replace the piece of outer cable for a small spring.

I love this subject btw, how to make your brake levers unusable

+1 for lever activated bell!

Second for this solution, worked perfectly for me with quite a satisfying spring back.

Trimmed a wine cork, coloured it in and popped it in there - It's been like that for ~8 years and has a nice squidge. Nice to see all the other options though.

I’m pretty sure I solved mine by knotting the end of a bit of bungee, popping it through the cable stop and trapping the other end under the lever mounting band. That way you can still fidget lever it and get a satisfying sound from it.

When I did it, I used enough housing to go along the groove under the tape, and secured the pinch bolt before routing the cable - when I curved it to fit the bar, it tightened up and left the lever solid as a rock (at least in one direction; it was an STI lever shifting the front).

Then when I got sick of only having one brake, it was easy to extend the housing without redoing the tape.

The bell thing is pretty damn cool, tho

Never got around to actually doing it, but the jtek double control brake cable splitter seems like a good option.

This and @Rik_Van_Looy's suggestions are edging ahead. I hadn't considered the cable slipping with the clamp. Thanks everyone for your ever-entertaining inputs.

have done, worked well.

That wouldn't have been the cable slipping; it would just be a fraction of a mm of bedding-in of the ends of the housing; a steel corner digging into aluminium or something.

My method of clamping it tight with the housing straight and then putting the curve in it adds a heap of preload, guaranteed to stay solid.

I’ve used this too (or a similar version), works really well and obviously helps if you need to signal right and brake