Dia compe evo-v levers

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I have been thinking about this problem for some time and I think I am going to make some non aero long pull levers for v brakes. I like v brakes on big tire drop bar bikes but I don’t really like any of the levers , travel agents are okay but always feel like a band aid

A non-aero long pull road lever would probably just make the situation worse. When aero routed brake levers were introduced, brake lever ergonomics got better, particularly when braking from the hoods.

A non-aero routed lever (cable pulled downward through the lever "horn") requires that the blade pivot be offset to rear of of the horn, so that there is a lever arm to pull the cable. This puts the pivot more inline between the hand and the blade, and also means that blade moves downward when it is pulled back. This is difficult to do when hands are on top of the hoods. An aero routed lever (cable pulled forward through the lever body) allows the blade pivot to be moved to the front of the lever. This puts the pivot in front of the hand, and means that as the blade is pulled back, it moves upward relative to the hand. This is makes squeezing the lever more effective when the hand is on top of the hood.

To create even more cable pull, a non-aero routed long pull lever would require the blade pivot to be moved even further back into the lever body, perhaps even behind the index and middle fingers (the levers that actuate the lever. Relative to the fingers, the lever would move in an even more downward, so braking wint hands on top of the hoods would require the fingers to move the lever even more downward when it is pulled back. This may make braking with hands on the hoods nearly ineffective.