[dfl@cisco.com]

My girlfriend has made great strides as a road biker, but she is still very scared on long steep decents. I have heard of some road bikes with a second pair of brake pulls on the upper part of the bar. This allows for the rider to more confidently squeeze the brake handles while holding the top part of the bar. When in the drops, the regular brakes work as well.

Does anyone know how this is done? Where do the brake cables meet so that either lever will pull a single brake?

 

[gogogomoveit]

My girlfriend has made great strides as a road biker, but she is still very scared on long steep decents. I have heard of some road bikes with a second pair of brake pulls on the upper part of the bar. This allows for the rider to more confidently squeeze the brake handles while holding the top part of the bar. When in the drops, the regular brakes work as well.

Does anyone know how this is done? Where do the brake cables meet so that either lever will pull a single brake?

They sit right on the tops on your bar. you dont have to reroute the cable at all.

Actually you have to pull harder on those brake levers than STIs to get the same stopping power, since the levers are shorter in length.

 

[kenyee]

I have heard of some road bikes with a second pair of brake pulls on the upper part of the bar

Do a search for "cross levers".
They're used for cyclocross mainly, but people who want that extra 1-2 sec response time while riding in the tops also install them on regular road bikes....

 

[TurboTurtle]

My girlfriend has made great strides as a road biker, but she is still very scared on long steep decents. I have heard of some road bikes with a second pair of brake pulls on the upper part of the bar. This allows for the rider to more confidently squeeze the brake handles while holding the top part of the bar. When in the drops, the regular brakes work as well.

Does anyone know how this is done? Where do the brake cables meet so that either lever will pull a single brake?

See www.cyclocrossworld.com for some examples and installation instructions.

Previous post said that they are less powerfull. True compared to drops, but much more powerfull compared to the hoods.

They don't install by spiltting the cable, but install in-line with a break in the housing. They widen this gap, which lengthens the effective housing, which shortens the effective cable and pulls the brakes.

TF

 

[alibi]

I'd be careful here...

Remember waaaay back when "10 speeds" first became popular (talking 1970 here) all the campus bikes came with brake lever extensions that wrapped around under the bar flats, making it possible to brake from that position. They quickly became known as "suicide levers", and I think CPSC had them nixed. Reason being, if one gets sloppy with their braking and doen't make sure their thumbs are wrapped under, a hard braking will launch a rider OTB.

Long scary descents with hands on the flats?? Yikes. Uncomfortable as it may seem at first, hands in the drops is a far more stable position; lower CG, better bar control, better feel for lever pressure, and more able to resist forward weight shift in a hard braking situation.

'cross riders, flame away.

 

[Jett]

Remember waaaay back when "10 speeds" first became popular (talking 1970 here) all the campus bikes came with brake lever extensions that wrapped around under the bar flats, making it possible to brake from that position. They quickly became known as "suicide levers", and I think CPSC had them nixed. Reason being, if one gets sloppy with their braking and doen't make sure their thumbs are wrapped under, a hard braking will launch a rider OTB.

Long scary descents with hands on the flats?? Yikes. Uncomfortable as it may seem at first, hands in the drops is a far more stable position; lower CG, better bar control, better feel for lever pressure, and more able to resist forward weight shift in a hard braking situation.

'cross riders, flame away.

I remember those old 10 speed extension levers and you right they were death traps. Unlike those old levers, which were just extension of the real brake levers on the drop, these new are actually brake levers. The brake cables are actually routed thru them. You not using to apply force to the levers on the drops, you're directly actuating the brakes.

I've remember testing riding an Gaint OCR (I think it was the 2) that had these lever and the work fine.

 

[Kerri]

My girlfriend has made great strides as a road biker, but she is still very scared on long steep decents. I have heard of some road bikes with a second pair of brake pulls on the upper part of the bar. This allows for the rider to more confidently squeeze the brake handles while holding the top part of the bar. When in the drops, the regular brakes work as well.

Does anyone know how this is done? Where do the brake cables meet so that either lever will pull a single brake?

Haha I understand what she is lookping for! After maybe 40 years I just purchased a road bike and was very surprised there were no upper break levers! I automatically reached for the break on the upper bar and nothing!
the last bike I had was my Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. This bike had upper and lower breaks. I love this as I don’t have to change my whole hand position just to apply the breaks.