I am working to install a brake lever on my aerobar extensions to operate the rear brake. I have not been able to find a solutoin to operate both the standard brake lever and this additional lever, attached to the rear brake. I know that cyclocross racers do it, yet my HED aerobars and integrated levers will not allow for the same operation that CX racers use.
Looking at Julich and CSC’s set up is what I am trying to figure out.
Any links or product advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gary
I’ve seen it done, but don’t know exactly how. There must be some sort of a splitter mechanism sort of like Profile made for combining STI shifting with bar ends.
And why your rear brake? That sounds pretty dangerous… if you’re doing only one brake on your bar-ends do your front brake. Next time you’re flying along grab your back brake only and see what happens! OK… now think about being on your aerobars with even less weight on your rear wheel.
I saw one in the performance bike catalog it was more for adding a lever on the top part of drop bars but it may do the trick. It was either in the touring or components section. Sorry I can’t give you a link, I’ll look when I get home.
The rear brake has a lot less stopping power. If you are applying the brakes while in the aero position, you are only trying to scrub off a little bit of speed. If you have to use your front brake, you most certainly should not be in the aero position.
Sheldon Brown’s site has an example of a “dual control front brake” that he set up on the aerobars of one of his bikes. There’s a few paragraphs about what he did to make it work at the bottom of the following page:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/otb.html
Regards,
Clay
The rear brake has a lot less stopping power. If you are applying the brakes while in the aero position, you are only trying to scrub off a little bit of speed. If you have to use your front brake, you most certainly should not be in the aero position.
You will scrub off speed… because you’ll lock your rear wheel and lose control and then wipe out because you can’t control the gyrations while on the aerobars.
hey Gery
go fined a web sight for tandems and they would have a spliter. thats a very common brake set up for tandems. they run the back rim brake with a drum brake off the same lever, so you may be able to flip it over and use two levers to one brake?
Dan…
aka:bikedude
Tri-zone used to have a splitter. it attached to your brake cable router. ( Sorry, I don’t know how you spell it.)
no one said you knew how to handle a bike. I’ve got that set up on my tt bike, and many other have done it as well.
Of course, i don’t “grab” my brakes either. I think cycling 101 teaches you to feather them, unless you have a panic stop, then you might grab the front brake, and if you know how to handle a bike, you won’t crash.
Found another post, and how CSC managed to route the cables
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=160797
"Cable housing from frame to left hand aero extension. Loops out from end of extension (at 90 deg. to extension) across to r hand extension. housing runs to lever and terminates. New housing length from extra lever to standard lever. Housing terminates at lever.
“extra” lever functions by changing length of housing run, causing brake cable to move, causes brake to operate. "
Not a big fan of the extra loop around the front of the aerobars
Profile-design does not sell the brake splitter any longer
Any other options?
no one said you knew how to handle a bike and no one said I didn’t ;-). I’ve got that set up on my tt bike, and many other have done it as well Lemings use that same philosophy :-).
Of course, i don’t “grab” my brakes either. I think cycling 101 teaches you to feather them, unless you have a panic stop there you go, then you might grab the front brake, and if you know how to handle a bike , you won’t crash.
Dude give it up.
Been there, (brake lever on the aerobar), done that…went back to the regular brake setup. I guess if you use it enough it won’t be too scarey, but I found it rather scarey, and I’ve been riding and a mountain bike instructor for 14 years. I had the rear brake setup on the aerobar. It was wierd and uneccessary as far as I was concerned. Good luck!
Paul
How did you have yours set up, as the photo above?
Thanks
Gary
Hi Gary,
I wrote the CSC explanation you dug up, and I have cabled a couple of bikes this way. The splitters are no longer commonly available because they do not work very well, or at least not as well as the CSC soluion, which is, as has been mentioned, very similar to what many do on their 'cross bikes.
The loop of cable is no reason to shy away from this setup. CSC is probably the most well-thought out team in the pro peleton, equipment wise, and a couple of their riders rocked this setup this season. For technical TTs, this setup is very, very cool.
You can do this on your Hed bars, no problem.
You would have to be out of your mind to choose to run just your front brake as the extension brake on anything but a fixed gear (and I know this isn’t Gary’s bad idea…)There isn’t even a cogent argument to be made otherwise, at least one that displays any understanding of the physics of a 2 wheeled vehicle, unless you are trying to create some kind of a stunt bike/wheelie machine - remember those bikes with the hinge in the middle of the frame? Super fun!
All front brake turns any bike into a device that is, for all intents and purposes, hinged just in front of, or at the center of balance. Yes, the front brake has greater stopping power than the rear, but an over-reliance on, and misunderstanding of this canard leaves out the basic fact that the rear brake is at least as important as a steering element as it is necessary to slow the bike.
In a TT situation, application of the rear brake is used as much to change the attitude and orientation of the bike/rider as it is to moderate speed. you can’t do that with a front brake.
There are several books available that explain braking force application/steering and the physics of same with regards to motorcycle racing. Although the amplitude of the force vectors involved in bicycle operation is on a different scale, many of the same theories apply, and they are worth looking at for anyone who doesn’t quite understand how brakes actually work.
Naw, I only had the rear brake lever on the aerobar. I didn’t split it into 2 cables. I had a super light reverse pull lever mounted on a Syntace Streamliner aerobar.
Thanks, yes I copied your post, and the URL you posted to
I guess I need to determine WHY I want to go this route, my TT’s are not very technical in nature, and the state and Nats are out and back TT’s, nothing like a prologue
.
Dude give it up.
Dude… not a chance!
good luck panic stopping in the aero position.
You seem to think that one will crash by using a rear brake in the aero position. This just isn’t true, in fact, the more weight you have on the front end, the more likely you are going to crash using a front brake. If you are going fast enough, so that you need to use the front brake to slow down, then you should not be in the aero position.
By virtue of the way i have run the cable and splitter, i don’t even think i could lock up my rear brake if i tried.
I’m not even sure why i have a brake on my aerobars, i suck at tt’s.
Lemings are pretty coordinated, i imagine that leming-like handling skills are a good thing. That said, i have never had an issue with using my aero mounted brake, and it seems no one else who has used one has fallen victim to your theory. Mabe every time i use my rear brake in the aero position, i am just using my badass handling skills to make up for what should be a certain date with the pavement.
edit: insertion of smiley, applicable to enitre post : )