I wouldn't remove material from the bar. The wedge on the levers may split the bar if you take material off of the bar. Try to work the wedge down on the lever. Take your time, use emery cloth or a fine sandpaper. Takes a while, but you will be happier with the results! I did the same thing to bar end shifters that would not fit into a Cinelli Angel bar...works like a charm.

Are you saying to sand down the metal wedge of the levers? Wouldn't that take forever and then some? I am going through the same thing with the Syntace levers and Carbon X bars and they won't go in. What I thought is that if you sand down the wedge then it might not grip inside the bar once installed.

It may take a while, yes, but it is the safest way to install the levers. You could use a Dremel tool to speed up the process...doesn't look as nice, but it works. If you remember back to the time of quill stems, the quill and the stem were both smooth with many manufacturers. This held very well and there is a lot more stress on a stem versus a brake lever. It definitely will hold. If you ream out a handlebar, it weakens the area the wedge expands in...if you do this, and apply pressure with the wedge, it WILL crack the bar.

i'm going with john3 on this one. put a good movie on (i recommend blazing saddles) and start sanding. should have them fit by the time mongo gets candy.

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Tried it yesterday and I was able to sand down the wedge but the metal part of the lever that goes inside the bar is also too big for the handlebar and its too big to be grinded down. I'm just waiting for the Profile Quick Stop II to come out in about 3 weeks and I'll put those in.

Thanks for the input. I ended up using a file to file down the wedge on the syntace bars. Quite a bit needed to come off, so it took awhile, but should be fine now. For whatever reason, it appears the Ovals are built around a 25.8mm diameter instead of 26. I think that was the problem in this case anyway.

sweet