79pmooney

+1 The real deal. Levers as good as the mains. I have those on one bike. Only disadvantage stopping is that my hands are further inboard so a little less steering control. To partially offset that, I can push myself further back for more ultimate stopping power. (Pretty sure my levers are a different brand. I think they are Tektro/Cane Creek. I doubt it matters much.)

The Golden Boy 

The old DC hoods have the punch out for the safety levers to be installed through (the circle in the DC branding).




I have a set of bars somewhere with them installed...

cudak888 

I eat turkey wings. I sent "safety levers" to my scrap man.

If I want top-of-the-bar brakes, I'll go with cross interrupters every time.

It's unfortunate that there has yet to be a guidonnet type of interrupter designed that would look better with non-aero brakes. Loop the cable over right into a top-entry/bottom-exit configuration.

-Kurt

non-fixie 

While I agree that safety levers / turkey wings are not the preferred choice, they can work well, even at hard braking.

It took me a while (and a long one at that) to find the correct configuration and setup, but this bike stops on a dime, using the safety levers.:



The brakes are CLB side-pull calipers (with the original pads, I might add), and the levers are Shimano's best effort:

thook

Wow...it's like a bunch of eggs hatching overnight! Thanks for all the responses, everyone I'll make some individual replies later

AlmostTrick

This is what I often did back when I had a bike with safety levers. Like you, I found I could easily stop just as fast from this position.

daverup 

Here are some installed on one of my Wife's bikes (Schwinn)

The Golden Boy 

Are those hoods with the punch-outs or did you cut the holes yourself?

daverup 

I did not get punch-outs, but these have the spot molded. On a bike without safety levers.

Murray Missile 

I can stop "Big BIrd" very quickly using this method, but bike and rider are only a "measly" 275 Lbs. chrome steel rims and all so maybe that's not a fair test.........



This is the World Sport I built from the parts tubs. This thing would stop on a dime with the safety levers! Every bit as well as my drop bar GT Karakoram with cross levers.





I still have the Varsity, nobody else wants it LOL but that's OK, I like riding it..... on flat ground. The World Sport was decommissioned after I got the Karakoram done but I still have all the parts and a CroMoly '86 LeTour frame I'll be checking the tire clearance on to see what I can squeeze in there.

randyjawa 

Would I use dual position brake levers (I believe that is what they are called)? Nope! I do not trust them even when set up with great care..

browngw 

I have one bike with them and they belong there and I like and use them when appropriate. Hmm, I wonder how they would work with disc brakes?

WilliamK1974

The brakes on my '89 Schwinn World were never that great even from the word go. I was still learning about how to adjust and maintain stuff like that, but even as my skills improved, the brakes never did what I wanted them to. The turkey wings looked like they should have worked just as well as the drop levers, but they didn't. About ten years ago, I changed the brakes to Nashbar dual pivot sidepulls and changed the levers to hooded Dia-compe. Scrapped the original stuff. Had I known in my teens what I know now, I would have saved my quarters and dollar bills to make that change long ago.

thook

i'm gathering some designs/brands are better than others. and, i'm sure calipers and pads make a big difference, too. i'm planning to use cantilevers with the levers i have. we'll see. i'm setting up a new shop and have to move everything over to it and finish the couple things i'd already started before moving on this project. if they work out as i'd like, i may even get some real gum hoods for them. oh, and some kool stop salmon pads

thook

i love those step through merals i think one of the first 650b conversions i'd seen (when conversions first started becoming a thing in the states) was on a meral. i sure wouldn't mind owning one.
the safety levers....i can't tell. are they shimano? are they even original to the drop levers? just looks like an adaptation. very robust looking, though!

edit: okay. i see "shimano". and, of course, you said they were. they don't look like something that would've been offered in the US. ???

JohnDThompson 

I prefer guidonnet levers, especially in winter when wearing heavy gloves. Much better leverage than the "safety levers," and they don't restrict lever travel like some versions of "safety lever."

jdawginsc 

My first bike, a Peugeot I had bought with snow shoveling money at age 12, had them. Within weeks I had removed the wing, changed the lever pivot out and bought hoods. Until the Ross Centaur I just picked up, I had never walked close to them...

I was programmed to hate them from an early age. And I hated the yuckiness that it caused in braking from the drops.

Prowler 

I have/had them on two bikes and find them pretty useful. However, I agree with folks about the utility of the levers that curve around to follow the handle bar and try to act like guidonnet levers. Seems like a bad idea. I've modified both sets I have by bending them straight then cutting them to about 10cm long. That way they allow me to trim speed from the ramps, where I ride a lot. If I see the need for serious braking, I move down to the hoods and get it done properly.



On my 87 Voyageur. The other pair are on my frankenbike.

I like them on these two bikes but do not miss them on the other bikes. So, comme is, comme sa.

canklecat

I had those "safety" brake levers on my '76 Motobecane. They worked okay. Any braking issues were mostly due to the steel rims, not the brake levers. I just had to remember to brake more cautiously in rain (very rare in SoCal where I lived at the time) or after riding through puddles. The only trick was to brake lightly well in advance to squeegee the rims, then it would brake fine.

I did remove the turkey legs for awhile when I tried newbie level crits and time trials, mostly so the other kids wouldn't laugh at my gas pipe bike. Racing was fun but I wasn't any good at it. If I finished somewhere in the pack rather than being dropped like an unhitched caboose, that was a good day.

When I decided commuting and casual rides, solo and with a club, were more my thing, I put the turkey legs back on. But I had to remove them again when I added a Kirtland Tour Pack handlebar bag -- that bag's rear zippered pockets interfered with the safety levers.

When I sold that bike I put the turkey legs back on, mostly for liability reasons. They're easy enough for almost anyone to install or remove as preferred.

Gashouse

Have Turkey levers on my 80's Schwinn. (The term makes me hungry.)
They are set up with Diacompe brakes. Work okay for casual riding. Not best for hard stops
I find the best adjustment is to keep the pads close to the rim and be sure the "turkey legs"
are physically positioned on the bars such that they move up in front of the bars without
hitting them. This is done by both positioning the calipers and bending the turkey legs to
where you want them.

repechage

I have set up a few bikes for others with inline brake levers- requires “aero” levers and provides good stopping performance.

”dual position” levers were to me convenience levers, not safety levers.

crewdog

I agree. I have mounted these on both of my road bikes and they work way better than the old "suicide" levers from back in the day.

sd5782 

One thing though is that people here talk about C&V bikes and the levers which automatically makes them 30-40 years old. I, like others use them on bikes that came with them and noted their shortcomings. However, on a recent build of a 1973 Schwinn Super Sport, I came into some very little used levers. If you have messed with these, you see the bushings in there which introduces the sloppiness with wear. These unworn bushings and levers mated with very true wheels thanks to my new truing stand told a different story.

I can only think that new from the factory the feeling was much different than C&Vers talk about with vintage used and abused bikes. I was surprised that I even skidded the rear wheel with a proper setup. I bet with my lathe and some delrin, I could even make some nicer tighter bushings.

Don’t count them out.

thook

okay. just want to thank everyone for taking the time to reply and post your pics. i think using these should be fun. and, of course, if i find i don't care for'em, i can always do something else. right?