Is anyone using the Hed third brake lever on their set-up? Just wondering how well it works and how easy it is to install. From what I’ve read its more of a slower downer than brake, is it practical, safe, or worth the money?
Im not using it now, but have in the past, it is nice because you can scrub some speed with it which can halp you stay aero into some turns and decents. but thats about all it does, I took it off just to clean up the cockpit sometimes I wish I still had it. It is also nice during really crowded races whith big packs, you can stay aero and have a bit more control.
I’ve had one on both my race bike and training bike for the past 2 years. When I built my new Tri bike about 1 month ago I did not include the third brake lever. I thought about adding it but didn’t think I really used it that much so I left it off. Big mistake…I used that thing alot more then I realized. Its great for slowing into turns, decsending, etc. I used that thing more then I could imagine. I’ll be putting mine back on in the next week or 2. You can scrub speed without ever coming out of aero. This helps when approaching corners and especially descending in windy conditions. At 35-40 miles per hour you really don’t want to come out of aero and catch more wind to slow down. With the lever up there you just touch that thing without a hitch.
Why not just move your rear brake lever and swap it out with the aero bar lever that you use to change the front chain ring. It would stop you a lot better, you don’t have to buy a third brake lever, you could stay in aero while you brake and how often do you go back and forth from the big ring to the small ring?
I have been thinking about doing it because sometimes I ride with road bikes and may need to stop while in line. Maybe I’m not considering something.
I have mine mounted to the left aerobar for the front brake. I’ve tried what you are asking. What it amounts to is under normal braking you’d have one hand on the base bar brake lever and one hand on the aerobar brake lever. This is very awkward and somewhat hazardous to your health as you loose balance, with one hand on the basebar 20cm from center and one hand out front on the aerobar about 5cm from center. It knocks everything out of balance as far as steering is concerned. Did I explain that right? I once moved my rear brake lever to the aerobar as you describe but due to the imbalance with the steering under braking, it didn’t work really well. The 3rd brake lever weighs near nothing, offers the ability to easily scrub speed without the possibility of locking up the front wheel as the braking from this little lever is not real strong.
I only use the 3rd brake lever without getting out of aero to scrub speed. If I’m out of aero and onto the base bar, due to the imbalance stated above, I’m on both regular basebar brake levers.
I installed one (LBS, actually) last year after a few close calls with inexperienced riders in races. Here are a few things that I’ve observed.
- It does scrub speed if you are coming into a corner too hot or if someone pulls out right in front of you while passing them.
- Since the lever is small it doesn’t have that much brake force. I have to squeeze like hell to slow down. Could be my cable routing, though.
- Haven’t found a clean way to route the cables and not have them bind.
- It doesn’t have a return spring so your caliper needs a strong one. The stock Cervelo brand I have barely returns to open after using the third lever. Again, could be cable routing/drag.
- Knowing what I know now I probably wouldn’t buy one. But, since I forked out the $90 I might as well use it. I like the concept but I am going to take the bike to a different shop and see if we can’t optimize the set up.
I put one on a few weeks ago and I love it. For me it gives me peace of mind becasue I no loger worry about braking in areo. I am not a fan of the routing and design though. Someone could most likely do a better job if there was a bigger market. In my opinion the 3rd brake needs to be designed with the aerobars so you can route the cables internal and have a place to store the splitter.
My take is that this is a bad implementation of a good idea. I had one on for 2 years and then took it off.
The good:
-can be used to scrub speed on some dowhnills. The only place i can think of really using this is that one left hand turn on the first big descent at CA 70.3
The bad:
-it is inherently badly designed in a number of ways: a) not a strong enough “join” to the master cable- if you pull really hard, you can slide cable permantly so brake stops working. b) not enough range of motion of the cable via the 3rd brake- you cant go from “fully not braking” to “fully applied brake”. most you can get is about half pressure
-the extra cable is hard to route, and cables acutally have a surprising amount of aero drag
-i think this gives false confidence more than anything else- you cangt really stop suddenly with it, but i kept on kind of thinking i could, and staying on aerobars for too long. If you use this, do NOT give in to temptation to ride aero on group rides.
its good to slow down and check your speed. I loaned mine to a pro rider, now on the garmin team and he loves it and I never saw it back but got a nice garmin skinsuit in return!
Stef
I use it and love it. The return is slow, the set up is tricky and the braking force is not great. To call it a bad design is not accurate in my opinion though as it is not designed to be a replacement for a main brake. I find it does what I want it to do very wery well.
For reference I have the Hed brake and a vision crab claw (also without a spring) both internally routed through a vision aluminium aerobar with nokon cables and working a dura ace rear brake. Getting the nokons set up through the bar was a nighmare but it can be done and looks very clean:
I’ve used one for a while and really only use it to slow with when nearing turns.
OK, I think I’ve identified the lack of my problem with the return of the brakes. I put mine on the FRONT caliper, not the rear. Front calipers don’t have near the return problem as the rear as there is far less cable. I was wondering what all the comments where about in reference to splitter position and lack of return. I have none of these problems with the 3rd brake on the front caliper.
It is NOT designed to STOP you. It is designed to scrub speed in the aero position. It really does not matter if the lever can get you to “full” stop. It ain’t supposed to do that.
I had thought about using it on the front brake. Since it is almost impossible to get enough braking force to lock up the wheel I don’t think that would be a problem and may look into moving the lever to the left aerobar.
Another thing I considered, and may try first, is a small aux. spring on the caliper. It would go over the cable and assist the caliper spring in pushing the arms apart. It would be similar to the spring in a ball point pen, only stainless.
It is NOT designed to STOP you. It is designed to scrub speed in the aero position. It really does not matter if the lever can get you to “full” stop. It ain’t supposed to do that.
I’m guessing that is for the OP’s benefit since I already know this.
I think you may sruggle to swap the lever over - assuming yours is a shimano compatible one the insert is L/R specific
.
I had wondered how others had done it since it appears to be designed for the right shift lever. I figured if it came down to moving it, I’d work it out somehow. I think I’ve seen the lever inverted (above the left extension) but not sure how you would get any leverage on it.
I could always leave it on the right extension and rig it to the front brake but I’d like to keep things consistent (L=front, R=rear).
The “left” lever is a bit more difficult to find for sale. Most sites only have the right.
Lots of people shy away from using the lever on the front figuring it would send them over the bars. The lever is not strong enough to do that. I’m a former mountain bike instructor and have learned over many years to use the front brake more then the rear. I hardly ever use the rear brake.
I’m a little confused here. If you want to slow down surely whether or not you lose the aero position is irrelevant. Isn’t it safer to be out on the bullhorns going round bends fast downhill where you have more control of the bike and immediate access to better braking control?
Seems to me this is a ‘solution’ to a problem that does not really exist. And it’s extra weight too!!
Cut one toe nail before you race, thats about as weight as they have. Weight is a non issue.
As far as braking hard and on descents srcubing lots of speed, then you should indeed be on the basebar. This lever is for the times when there is no need for heavy braking, you just need to srcub a couple miles per hour to take a 90 degree corner as in most races. It is also extremely helpful, when bombing downhill at 45 miles per hour in windy conditions. As you know, when you sit up into the basebar, you catch a ton more wind and at that moment steering can be compromized (sp?). Just a touch at 45 mph in windy conditions using this lever is FAR better then sitting up into the wind and getting blown around. If you’ve never used one, you may not realize how helpful they are. I didn’t think I was using mine all that much, so I didn’t put it on my new build, but after a few rides, I realized how much I used that thing and it’ll be back on after my race this weekend.
Hate to see the size of your toenails 
If I want to scrub some speed to take a corner, no problem and no need for a third lever. Sit up, use the air for braking as well as the brakes and have more control going around the tight corner.
As for fast descents downhill. I’m a coward, and so is the other half!! If I’m going downhill at 80kph plus, whether windy or not, I’d much rather be on the basebar (bullhorns), close to the brakes, tucked down as low as possible, but definitely in more control. I have no issue sacrificing a couple of k’s an hour for safety. Things happen so fast at speed, especially if other cyclists are around.
Do you know what sites have the “left” lever? What wheel have most of you installed it on? If it has so little leverage seems like front would be the way to go.