Velo Mule

I have a few lower end bikes. This is my domain since I am too thrifty (cheap) to spend some serious cash on my hobby. These low end 70"s and '80"s bikes often come with brake levers with "turkey wings", extensions or safety levers on them. I don't like them. I replaced the brake levers on my 1988 Traveler with a pair of Aero levers. Schwinn should have gone to these levers by 1988 anyway.

Now I am working on my 1983 Le Tour. I would like to use the original DiaCompe levers, however, when I remove the extension lever, the tab on the extension lever gets removed and the lever now moves 4.1mm closer the brake hood. This causes the reach for the brake lever to teeter large enough that I am not comfortable with being able to grab the brakes when needed in a surprise situation. I could change the brake levers for something else. I have Shimano BL-230 levers from the '80's, but I would like to use the originals if possible.

I think I could bend the lever. Has anyone tried that? I've straightened out a lever for a particular pair of handle bars. They seem to bend without problems. I still have the levers.

Does anyone have a solution on how to get the reach back after removing the extension levers?



With Extension levers: 54mm


With Extension levers removed: 63mm

noobinsf 

Not sure about a solution, but I would not bend. These are aluminum, and bending could catalyze a sudden failure later on.

cudak888 

Swap them for a shorter reach set in the ISO/For Trade forum. These levers aren't of great quality and the knurling in front is bound to start a stress crack.

-Kurt

thook

i had a set of old mafac levers from racer cp brakes that had the white rubber grips on the levers. this was years ago. at the time, i really wanted to use them, but the reach was far out there like yours. they didn't have turkey levers, though. were just like that to begin with. anyway, what i did was dremel a spacer to go between the top end of the lever (where your quick release is) and the underside of the perch/grip stop.....if that makes sense? now, mafac levers had the barrel adjuster on top of the perch (like yours) and that allowed me to thread the bottom end of the barrel adjuster through the perch and into a hole i drilled in the spacer.....which i made of some chunks of redwood. soft enough to do this. it took an evening to accomplish and was really fairly simple. the only problem with it is since the barrel adjuster needs to go all the way down to secure the spacer, the barrel adjust was no longer usable as an adjuster. no matter since i could use cable hangers with barrel adjusters vs the original mafac ones that didn't have them

btw, if you decide this is an idea you wanna pursue, the quick release will still function. the spacer just has to be shaped so that it protrudes out far enough for the release tab to seat on

SurferRosa

Do you have a co-op? Mine has bins of good, mid-level levers (some with good hoods) for $5-$10.



If you flip a couple bikes, you should be able to afford better replacements. The c&v market is so crap right now, you can find nice stuff for super cheap compared to just two years ago, even in a big market.

Miele Man

Carefully cut off the protruding Turkey Levers but leave the area where they mount to the brake body alone. Then the part that fits between the brake lever body and brake lever will still be there. Be sure to round off the cut section so there are no sharp edges to cut you.

Cheers

Prowler 

I swapped out the drop bars on my wife's Varsity for Northroad like bars. I bent both brake levers in so they would be better for her hands. No problems, that was years ago.

On 2 other bikes I've cut the turkey wing lever off about 2 1/2" from the pivot and straightened what was left. No problem. They now go straight down from the side of the lever housing. I ride the tops a lot and can still apply gentle braking using these "stubbies". I can easily slide forward on the hoods if hard braking times are ahead.

No problem with damage to the aluminum alloy. I only bent once though. NO back and forth.

Velo Mule

Thanks all of you. I don't know of a local bike co-op nearby. If I did, I would spend too much time there. I think I will end up just swapping them out.

One reason that I'm not a fan of these turkey levers is that I spend probably 40-60% of the time on the hoods and the lever is not helping or comfortable.

bikemig 

I like the turkey levers on my Sekine SHS 271. They're great for modulating your speed when riding the tops and I just reach down to the levers when I need to brake hard. Plus the turkey levers are integrated to the brake body and I want to keep the bike all original.

ramzilla

Hate to sound like a broken record on this forum. But, whenever I see turkey levers I automatically see a bike that should have come equipped with upright handlebars to begin with. I look for these turkey lever bikes and try to buy them for as little as possible. Then I convert them and sell/trade them.

Kuromori

Those Shimanos have a bit better design than the typical ones. The part that pulls on the cable head is directly connected to the extension levers.

Murray Missile 

I used to ditch the safety levers but I find myself riding the top curve of the bars a lot and It's very convenient having them. I wrap my fingers under the bar from the outside and pull on the curve of the lever. With good pads they can work very well, even on steel rims. I tip the scales at 230 and on my 40 some pound steel wheel Varsity I can bring it to a dead stop very quickly that way.

Velo Mule

Thanks for the replies. Since I have some spare brake levers, I am going to try Prowlers stubby extension levers. It is a good idea since I don't ride the flat top part of the bars but, I do use the upper curve. I still have the issue of the wrapping my thumbs around the bolt heads when on the hoods.

Then I'll try it with some Shimano BL-Z320 levers that don't have that issue. They had extension levers, but like the Bikemig's Sekine, they are a better design and the extension lever does not alter the brake levers' position.

Velo Mule

I shortened up the extension levers as per Prowlers suggestion. I kept the bend so that I could use my fingers when on the top curve of the bar. Shortening the lever seems to lessen the play in the lever since there is less leverage in the wrong direction. I will try them out.

Sorry for the out of focus picture, however, even out of focus you can see the modified lever.

Alloyboy

Hello Velo Mule,
I cut an inch at first and then another inch. A quality job you have done with the filing of the ends. I ride on the tops of the bars mostly unless the wind is telling me otherwise. Jim.

Velo Mule

I ended up getting new (to me) DiaCompe brake levers without any provision for extension levers. I liked the shortened extension levers when I was on the curve of the bar but with this design, the pivot screw is in a bad spot when my hands are on the hoods.

The Shimano brake levers with extension seem to have a better design. The reason that I didn't use the Shimano levers that I had is that I don't have the hoods for them and they don't have an adjusting screw on the brake lever. The brake calipers do not have adjusters on them.

So, in the end I had to actually break out my wallet and spend money.

Alloyboy

Hello Velo Mule, I feel your pain when opening your wallet. Haha. The temp. is 13 *F this morning. I will spend the day trueing one of my wheels. Another of my "when I get around to it jobs"

blamester

This is what I would do.
Cheap and will look o.k. if you are tidy.