Made in the USA - brake levers?

[Andrewlcox]

Thanks to all who pointed me in the direction of an American made crank for an upcoming build. I might have found the right one but with your help I many to choose from.

I am building a list of parts that are all American made for a build next winter. It was not surprising how hard it is to find these niche makers but with your help it is far easier and very rewarding.

Next on my list are the shifters/brake levers. I am very doubtful I will be able to find road brake levers "made in the USA". I found Paul Components and talked with Kate and they make all their stuff in the USA.

Does anyone know of any road brake levers / shifters made in the USA?

Next will be rear deraileurs, saddles and rims. I would like everything to be current in order to support current production but if all else fails, NOS from days gone by might be my only option.

Thanks,
Andy

[EricEstlund]

For drop bars? No. Paul levers and Thumbies get you a good part of the way if you like flat bars.

[bargainguy]

Paul made an RD back in the 90's, but it's long out of production. I've only seen pix. Mythical beast.

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/...railleurs.html

Don

[bwest]

I know Doug over @ White Industries has some design ideas, not sure that production is really in the cards (economy of scale on the assembly isn't there if you think about it).

[oliver1850]

I can't think of a US made road brake lever. SRAM would be the closest, being a US based company. GripShift are the only US manufactured road shifters I recall, available in 7 and 8 speed. Bike pic is my Trek 5500 with GripShift. Here's a Precision Billet RD. It is fairly unique, being completely rebuildable. When they were being produced, every small part was available as a replacement. This is the short cage version.

[tlittlefield]

I had Grip Shifters on one of my bikes back in the late 90's. Worked very well when they were adjusted properly.

[FastVegan]

Mark, Is that this der? http://www.torontocycles.com/Selling...railleurs.html
made in toronto is almost made in usa.

[Andrewlcox]

Sounds like finding USA made brake levers isn't going to happen.

Those Grip Shifts look interesting.

I may be forced to go with a modern brake/shifter and rear derailleur.

NOS made in the USA but no longer made defeats my goal of supporting current production. If it is amazing and knocks my socks off, I'll give it a try.

Thanks,
Andy

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by FastVegan

Mark, Is that this der? http://www.torontocycles.com/Selling...railleurs.html
made in toronto is almost made in usa.

That derailleur is similar in design, but looks like not much would interchange. There are some spare parts there that would likely work on mine. I'll never wear it out at this rate. It's so rare, I can't bring myself to put it on a bike and use it. I originally bought it with the goal of a bike that was built with parts totally from the small cnc parts makers. Somewhere I got sidetracked and never got around to it.

[neiltron]

A good friend of mine embarked on a similar project a couple years ago



She is using Paul brake levers. What she couldn't source from the USA were cable housing, chain, tires and tubes. Click on the picture to go to a more detailed build list.

[choke]

Originally Posted by bargainguy

Paul made an RD back in the 90's, but it's long out of production.

I'm pretty sure Paul made a FD as well. I know that Precision Billet made both.

[bfd]

Originally Posted by Andrewlcox

Thanks to all who pointed me in the direction of an American made crank for an upcoming build. I might have found the right one but with your help I many to choose from.

I am building a list of parts that are all American made for a build next winter. It was not surprising how hard it is to find these niche makers but with your help it is far easier and very rewarding.

Next on my list are the shifters/brake levers. I am very doubtful I will be able to find road brake levers "made in the USA". I found Paul Components and talked with Kate and they make all their stuff in the USA.

Does anyone know of any road brake levers / shifters made in the USA?

Next will be rear deraileurs, saddles and rims. I would like everything to be current in order to support current production but if all else fails, NOS from days gone by might be my only option.

Thanks,
Andy

For "brifters" - brake/shifter, have you consider the new RetroShifters? Yes, they're current modified Tektro levers, but according to the owner, he does all modifications in Portland, OR and eventually hopes to move the entire production to Portland and add a carbon lever option!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/11/28/...or-cyclocross/

May be the way to go for USA made brifters in the near future....Good Luck!

Interestingly, the article says " you can dump (or climb) the entire cassette’s worth of gears in about one second, quicker even than the 1.5 seconds it takes Campy’s new EPS electronic group to do it."

[Kontact]

Originally Posted by bfd

For "brifters" - brake/shifter, have you consider the new RetroShifters? Yes, they're current modified Tektro levers, but according to the owner, he does all modifications in Portland, OR and eventually hopes to move the entire production to Portland and add a carbon lever option!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/11/28/...or-cyclocross/

May be the way to go for USA made brifters in the near future....Good Luck!

Interestingly, the article says " you can dump (or climb) the entire cassette’s worth of gears in about one second, quicker even than the 1.5 seconds it takes Campy’s new EPS electronic group to do it."

Retroshifters are adapters on Tektro brake levers to mount foreign made DT shifters, so I don't see what that accomplishes.

The only US stuff you're ever going to find are simple molded plastics and CNC items. If it involves multiple materials or complex tooling, you won't find it here. So no tires, hooded brake levers, plastic saddles, cables, alloy drop bars.

[Andrewlcox]

Originally Posted by Kontact

The only US stuff you're ever going to find are simple molded plastics and CNC items. If it involves multiple materials or complex tooling, you won't find it here. So no tires, hooded brake levers, plastic saddles, cables, alloy drop bars.

Thanks for the insight. I will do what I can to buy American but I now realize I may have to go with components not made in the USA.

Thanks everyone,
Andy

[Ramjm_2000]

Originally Posted by bfd

For "brifters" - brake/shifter, have you consider the new RetroShifters? Yes, they're current modified Tektro levers, but according to the owner, he does all modifications in Portland, OR and eventually hopes to move the entire production to Portland and add a carbon lever option!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/11/28/...or-cyclocross/

May be the way to go for USA made brifters in the near future....Good Luck!

Interestingly, the article says " you can dump (or climb) the entire cassette’s worth of gears in about one second, quicker even than the 1.5 seconds it takes Campy’s new EPS electronic group to do it."

Those are pretty darn cool!