Arthur Peabody

I replaced my old rear (left) brake lever (Sunlite) with a Tektro RL-520. It takes a lot of grip to get any braking; all my strength doesn't get as much as I used to get with the old lever. The lever works freely when the cable wire isn't attached to the brakes (cantilever); the wire runs through the housing freely. It seems that the lever tightens up when there's tension. I followed the instructions. Could I have missed something? I've had the replacement levers for 3 years, waiting for a wire to break to bother to replace, so it's a new wire and I still have the old lever on the front brake. I lubricated the housing.

Rick

Tectro RL-520

◆ Lightweight Design
◆ Quick Release Mechanism
◆ For Use With Linear Pull Brakes

You need a short pull lever

dsbrantjr

https://www.amazon.com/Tektro-RL340-.../dp/B01173986A

Arthur Peabody

Oh ignorant I not to know the difference. Bummer. I bought them 3 years ago from Niagara, so no returns. Thanks.

Rick

You are no longer ignorant because you came her and found out what works. I have done the same exact thing before.

andrewclaus

Yep, easy mistake to make. It's good you found out before you needed to make a fast stop.

If there's a co-op or non-profit bike shop nearby, that would be a good home for the levers.

Arthur Peabody

What's the point of linear pull levers?

alcjphil

They are made for linear pull brakes and they work very well with them. Since you have cantilevers now your bike is also compatible with linear pull brakes

fietsbob

a V brake has a lot of MA, so demands more cable pull ,

the hand-lever must deliver that long cable pull by having a lower MA..


I improved the effort required to pull my brake lever on my V brake bike,

by going from a short, 2 finger lever , .. to a longer 3~4 finger brake lever . still a lower MA long cable pull

but a longer brake lever handle to pull it..

fietsbob

OTOH inverse: short cable pull demand by brake road caliper etc. , then brake lever has higher MA
. pulling less cable with greater leverage..

distance from pivot axis, to where cable end goes , is much shorter than distance length of hand lever to that axis..




classical mechanics of the lever, as old as civilization itself..






....

Arthur Peabody

Bought Tektro RL-340s, also put new pads on the front (the old were near the metal). It's a real joy. A frugalist, I let things go until they're completely worn out, get used to the slowly-degrading performance.

79pmooney

I am actually a fan of those V-brake levers and good, powerful, conventional calipers. I have them on my three good bikes with dual pivots and cantis. Yes, braking suffers a little from the hoods but I have been in the habit of being in the drops for serious braking (as I was taught 40 years ago). I love that I can come to a blind mountain corner that is much sharper than expected, slam on the brakes with full grabs and nothing happens except I slow a lot. I also love the huge hangles they provide for climbing.

Edit: modulation in the form of squeeze distance basically doesn't exist but modulation in terms of squeeze effort is excellent. That setup also means brake clearances are large, a nice plus with big tires and skinny rims.

Ben