I know it’ll void the warranty on the bar but I don’t care. I was wondering if anyone has done this and if so, how did they do it? I did some searching and read the carbon in the bar is ‘‘rough’’ past the bend and you can’t use a brake lever that mounts inside it. What about using a Vision lever?
Maybe the 3T brake levers, as they clamp onto the bars. Cutting is like any carbon bar I’d assume, measure twice, put some electric tape where you’re cutting, saw through and sand smooth.
Good luck.
pipe cutter?
Some saw guide you use for a steerer tube should work OK. I’ve used it on my ski bend extensions. I have smaller hands and I’ve also thought about cutting the end of the base bars off on my RXL bar on my 7 series.
I’m not worried about cutting the carbon, I’ve built a ton of bikes up and cut many a steerer tube down and a couple of seat masts. I’m wondering what brake lever will match up with the outer diameter of the bars… I see that Vision and 3t make a lever that clamps over the bars, just not sure which if any will work.
Just measure the OD on the basebar where you’d like to mount the brake with a tape.
+1
If it really came down to it you could shim it, but I would think you could find some that fit.
I cut mine about 10mm or slightly less. Used my dremel drill with a carbon cutter. The bar was fine as it came but I was not too fond of the “upturn” and the long grip length. Not surprising, the new generation SC bars no longer have the “upturn” and the grip length is much shorter. Mine still has somewhat of a slight upturn but not as high as the pre cut bar.
Cutting is easy but depending on your brake lever you will have issues with the thicker carbon inside the bar. As the brake lever base goes deeper, the inner diameter of the bar gets thicker, which is just logical. I use a Dura Ace Di2 brake lever/ shifter and post cut it would only go in by about 5mm. So with the dremel I thinned out the inner diameter of the bar until it could accomodate the lever.
As for warranty issues, I did this project four years ago and the bar has held after five Ironmans and a dozen Half Irons. I frankly think Warranty issues are overated.
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I know it’ll void the warranty on the bar but I don’t care. I was wondering if anyone has done this and if so, how did they do it? I did some searching and read the carbon in the bar is ‘‘rough’’ past the bend and you can’t use a brake lever that mounts inside it. What about using a Vision lever?
I did this on a Shiv. It is probably not that the inside is rough, but that the inside diameter increases. They build up the end of the bar to hold the brake lever plug. I just cut the curve section out and reattached the end by wrapping it with 3 layers of carbon. The Shiv has some very long handgrips though.
If the length is too short, you should be able to find straight carbon tubing with the correct inside and outside diameter. Most fork steer tubes are an 1.125 inches and the hand grip is probably 1 inch, so you would need to find an old carbon fork.
So with the dremel I thinned out the inner diameter of the bar until it could accomoodate the lever.
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Thanks! This is what I’m gonna do. I have the adjustable levers so I was really hoping I could reuse them
My dremel is the most important tool I own. Just do it slowly and monitor your progress until you hit the sweet spot.
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