Mechanical advantage of drop bar brake (only) levers (not brifters)

[choke]

I ran into the same problem of the pads hitting the fork on my Racer Ms. I switched to road style holders and pads and I'm much happier with those. I use SwissStop pads.

I run Campy 10sp Ergos with the Racer Ms and I have no complaints with the power. If you want to keep the levers Campy, one option would be to find some more modern Ergo levers and gut the shifting mechanism. On my Scapin MTB, I'm using gutted Athena 11 levers with the Euclid brakes (U-brake) and they work great IMO.

[tellyho]

Originally Posted by rustychisel

I'm using Cane Creek SCR5s on my fixed gear bike. They're made by Tektro as noted, but CC supply their own hoods which are far superior. I wore out Tektro rubber hoods in under 2 years and cannot source replacements, and they're crap anyway.

Yeah, the Tektros are nothing special. Their hood replacement is basically replace the whole lever body (push out the pin and reinstall blades on new plastic bodies. It works. But at $25ish, it's probably just as easy to buy new levers.

I'm not super picky, all the Tektros I've had have worked for me.

[Mark Davison]

I find the Salmon pads brake better in the wet, but do not hold up well if you need to do a lot of braking (e.g. braking many times before sharp turns on a gravel descent). You can also get half salmon/half black.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Back to the levers - are modern levers such as the TRP RRL more like brifters in terms of how they mount to the bars to create a flatter transition bars to hoods? And are the hoods wider than the old non-aero levers, Campy and Shimano as have been suggested up-thread? With arthritic thumbs I find modern brifter hoods more confortable than the old campy levers.

I used Tekto RL340's on my Krapf bike. Not a huge fan of how they look but they work great and feel great under hand. They are controlling Suntour Superbe calibers. Positioning worked out well for me.



NOthing pretty about them at all in my book.



I tried level with the bars at first but found the current position more comfortable. I'm getting up there in age too and have a damaged joint in the thumb of my left hand from the time that dog wrecked me. I find a lot of the small thin old school brake levers uncomfortable and on most of me vintage bikes they may be the only thing I replace.

The TRP RRL SR's look funky but I've used them on several bikes. The comfort for me is outstanding and the levers are easy to grab and control with my smallish hands. Quick release built into the levers also.



Just my random thoughts...

[NHAero]

Super helpful and appreciated. I have some RL340 levers being shipped. Which bars are those on the Krapf?

Originally Posted by jamesdak

I used Tekto RL340's on my Krapf bike. Not a huge fan of how they look but they work great and feel great under hand. They are controlling Suntour Superbe calibers. Positioning worked out well for me.



NOthing pretty about them at all in my book.



I tried level with the bars at first but found the current position more comfortable. I'm getting up there in age too and have a damaged joint in the thumb of my left hand from the time that dog wrecked me. I find a lot of the small thin old school brake levers uncomfortable and on most of me vintage bikes they may be the only thing I replace.

The TRP RRL SR's look funky but I've used them on several bikes. The comfort for me is outstanding and the levers are easy to grab and control with my smallish hands. Quick release built into the levers also.



Just my random thoughts...

[robt57]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

The TRP RRL SR's look funky but I've used them on several bikes. The comfort for me is outstanding and the levers are easy to grab and control with my smallish hands. Quick release built into the levers also.

Just my random thoughts...

Also have 2 sets of these, no problem with big hands and like very much in my hands and in performance. One set with Pauls Mini Motos and the other on 90s CLR Serotta with 7700 calipers/BXP pads.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Super helpful and appreciated. I have some RL340 levers being shipped. Which bars are those on the Krapf?

Soma HWY Ones. These have become my favorites in recent years.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

Soma HWY Ones. These have become my favorites in recent years.

My above mentioned 90 CLR got these upon PL recommendation.
They seem unremarkable to look at, generic. Yet somehow these in the hands are excellent. Considering I have Zipp XPLR on 4 bikes, a stark modern contrast in shape, the Soma are no less ERGO somehow.

[NHAero]

[QUOTE=robt57;3353407]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

Soma HWY Ones. These have become my favorites in recent years.

My above mentioned 90 CLR got these upon PL recommendation.
They seem unremarkable to look at, generic. Yet somehow these in the hands are excellent. Considering I have Zipp XPLR on 4 bikes, a stark modern contrast in shape, the Soma are no less ERGO somehow.

The Zipp XPLR is my absolute fave bar of all time, but this bar needs to fit a 26.0 quill stem. I've had the Soma also, excellent bars, but in that 26.0 space I use the Origin8 Pro-Fit Compact because they are 120/70 drop/reach vs the 130/75 of the Highway One. But it's very helpful to know James' bars are Soma because their curve also works for me, like the Origin8 bars.

[tellyho]

My happiest Aliexpress discovery of late is the Uno drop bar. Traditional clamp diameter (I have 25.4 but can get others), wide, compact both in reach and drop, plenty of room in the parallel drops. And $20.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by tellyho

My happiest Aliexpress discovery of late is the Uno drop bar. Traditional clamp diameter (I have 25.4 but can get others), wide, compact both in reach and drop, plenty of room in the parallel drops. And $20.

Looks like a nice set of specs. Are you using with shims to fit a 26.0 stem or do you have a 25.4mm clamp diameter stem?