When were safety levers introduced?
 

There is a Peugeot being advertised locally as a 1968. The seller has one poor non drive side picture of what looks to me to be a late '70s entry level bike which I'm fine with. Cottered crank, Cat-Eye reflectors and of course safety levers. I like bike boom bikes and this looks to be in nice survivor condition if the saddle has a gel cover instead of a gel seat. Long story short, before I insult the guy offering him quite a bit less that the $100 he is asking, I think the safety levers are the best thing to try to date the bike by from his picture. I was thinking safety levers were a late '70s early '80s thing but on the slim to none chance they were around in the late '60s, I thought I'd ask here first.

What's a bike safety lever?

Show up in the 1969 Schwinn catalog.
​​​​​​https://bikehistory.org/catalogs/1969.html

I recall seeing them appear in the early 70's

Hmmm. Makes sense that they would have been around before becoming prevalent in the later '70s.

While the reflectors still seem to date the bike later rather than earlier, I may have to arrange to look at the bike. I've overpaid for a bike boom survivor before. Thanks

I called those suicide as kid, if you are talking dual pull brake levers.

These things, also known as turkey wings. They bend heavily when used and barely work.

The brake manufacturers probably came up with this first, but the acceptance of the term "safety lever" is just (another) boondoggle from safety nannies busying themselves with bicycle-related matters they don't understand and shouldn't have screwed with.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8fb8db0eee.png

The only safe alternative to this came about when the cyclocross interrupter lever was invented.

-Kurt

Yep, 1969 as I recall admiring bikes at the Schwinn Shop, might have been a 1970 model thing. One could reference the Schwinn consumer catalogs... with prices as Schwinn was “fair traded”

Peugeot was late to make them standard. Like 1977. And their solution had less slop in the system. Prior to that while working at a bike shop in the 70’s, bike retailers loved to be able to add them on as an accessory- there were a few different suppliers of custom pivot pins that accepted Weinmann or Dia-Compe “comfort” levers, we never called them safety levers.

we could make the exchange really quick two drift punches, two hammers, one to buck up the lever from twisting- required a second mechanic for all of a minute. The new pivot was retained with a belvel spring clip.
xtra profit at the time of sale... kickstand, lock, saddle bag... if lucky, shorty fenders and a generator light! The lights and racks were popular during the second gas crisis in Spring 1979.

I think after the Consumer Safety regulations came into effect 1974? I think, most entry level bikes had the "safety levers' along with a whole slew of reflectors. Thats generally my cutoff date for bikes that I ride. Chaingaurds on the chainwheels, pie plates, turkey levers, reflectors, etc. YUCK!

My 1972 Peugeot UO8 did not have "safety levers". However, many people did add them afterward

Not if a 1969 Schwinn catalog has them - which, currently, is the earliest example provided yet.

If anything, they pre-date any FDA or CPSC decision. The CPSC reflector safety theater in 1977 was partially influenced by the BMA/6. Pedal reflectors pre-dated that, but I can't pinpoint a date; seems to have happened around 1969/70.

-Kurt

Yes Schwinn had safety levers early on. Imported bikes did not. By '74 most entry level bikes domestic and import had them.

An example would be the Raleigh Grand Prix US spec bikes. '73 - no safety levers or pedal reflectors and then in '74 safety levers and pedal reflectors.

They were introduced in Europe in the late sixties, I believe, on touring bikes. They add the benefits of the Guidonnet levers, which were popular in France, to the traditional drop bar levers. They appeared here on pretty much all demi-course machines in the early seventies.

The Weinmann version, and with that the Dia Compe and early Shimano copies, would flex a lot, which kind of ruined an otherwise good concept. The CLB versions, which used a secondary lever with a T-profile, flexed less and were nicer. Shimano and Altenburger later made versions with secondary levers made from steel plate, which - finally - worked the way they should.

However, like the others, they still rely on the right handlebar shape and being mounted at the correct angle. I spent a lot of time last year trying out various levers, bars and mounting positions, but I did come up with a combination that works really well.

WIN "Winpista" handlebars with Shimano DEL-80 levers. I say they work even better from the tops than from the drops:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...253fce5bb5.jpg

I have some mid-late 50s Wippermann pedals with reflectors.

CPSC announced in 1974, did not get solidified till 1975, implemented in 1976.
Comfort levers were NOT part of the CPSC regs.
But the ball end to them was.

Nubuo Ozaki, assignor to Yoshigai Kikai Kinzoku (Dia-Compe) filed the USA patent application for their brake safety level in October 1966 and it was granted in October 1968. The patent may have been filed slightly earlier in Japan.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7dad027339.png

I’d guess some engineer had a guidonnet lever in one hand and a drop bar lever in the other, and said, “Why not?”

Thank you! I thought it was a Weinmann design. Apparently it wasn't.

It's always been my understanding that Weinmann wanted the safety lever and that it resulted in a reciprocal technology exchange between the two companies. However, I also thought this took place in 1963. There are reportedly 1964 Japanese catalogs with products labelled as Dia-Weinmann (see attached). So, maybe the levers date back slightly further in Japan or maybe they weren't the reason behind the relationship between the two companies.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...70630fd07f.jpg

Someone I know messaged me about this bike this afternoon and he too was wondering how the seller determined the vintage. He has messaged the seller for more pictures of the brakes and derailleurs. I'm thinking if they are European and not Japanese, this may be a more interesting bike. If they are Japanese, less interesting but not enough to make me lose interest. However I hope he can get the bike before me, I'm beginning to agree with my wife that I don't need it. But we don't always agree on everything.

I think these are the things I like about survivor condition bikes. Things that got tossed frequently surviving on the bike for 40 years is kind of neat to me.

This makes sense to me. Many old catalogs I've seen have bikes with and without safety levers, I don't see how some bikes could be sold with them yet others not. However it is also in line with the feeling many have with the quality tier associated with them.

I have some Dia-Compe safety levers on one of my bikes and adjusted properly the work well enough. But the cheap ten speeds I had as a kid from the hardware and department stores had levers that pretty much flopped around like chickens with their heads cut off.

This.
Set up they work fine.

Top

And the precursor--guidonnet levers.

I've told this story numerous times before. The boom era Sekine came into our shop with factory wrapped handlebars and jig positioned brake levers. We loved this, as It saved a lot of time. However, more importantly, it optimized braking performance. As a result, Sekine had the best brake performance from the safety levers, out of all the brands that we carried.

I remember how proud I was when I put a pair of those safety levers on my Ten Speed back in 1973. That and stem-mounted shifter levers. IIRC, I even got a set of centerpull brakes!