Alexthe

Hello everyone, I have a 1978 Motobecane Grand touring bike with drop bars, as usual .I live in the city and I want to add brakes on the top of the bars . This is a vintage bike so I want to keep it vintage what options do I have for brakes on the top? The picture shows one option I have seen. By the way my bars are different they they don't bend like these, down. My bars are straighter. I believe the picture shows mustache bars. These brakes will work alongside my brakes on the drop below them. It's just that in the city I want to sometimes ride up ,and I want my hands near the brakes. I want to be able to break fast in case a cat, or a taxi cab runs in front of me.
Alex

repechage

Breaking is never good.
good Braking is.
‘the inline levers you show in an image are for primary brake levers that use aero cable routing. Aero levers are decent but you stated 1978 vintage, aero levers most probably not original.

”comfort” levers or as some call turkey levers would be possible, less performance. There are some that are better than others.

you are at a fork in the road, inline, aka “cyclocross” levers with aero primaries, or period correct compromises.

JohnDThompson 

Maybe "guidonnet" levers?

juvela

-----

"french" & "vintage" -






-----

Aubergine 

I have tried Mafac guidonnet levers and just could not get comfortable with them. They also had a long pull, and to avoid bottoming out against the bar need a randonneur bar that curves upward from the stem. Even with the rando bar they were pretty weak.

As for turkey levers, the common vintage Weinmann and Dia Compe levers were terrible. Lots of play in the mechanisms, which led to poor braking. Mafac made some turkey levers that were much more solid and braked reasonably well, but were not suitable for small hands. I have a set on an old Peugeot and they are good for upright riding.

if I were you I'd go for modern aero brakes with the in line levers.

Alexthe

modern Aero brakes , could you please show a picture or model number I'd like to know, more of what you are referring to.

52telecaster

Those guidonnet levers worked well for me. The velo orange ones do too.

Aubergine 

"Aero" brakes are simply those that run the brake cable along the bars rather than looping out from the top of the levers. The first photo shows a pair of non-aero levers from the 60s. The second shows what aero brakes look like. You can see how the cables run along the bar, under the bar tape.




The first pic shows the non-aero setup

Kabuki12

If I were in a major (busy) city environment , I would consider a more upright handlebar solution and thumb shifters . Being down in the drops is a bit less maneuverable in heavy traffic areas. I am in heavy traffic areas infrequently , but when I am , I ride on the top of the bar in a more upright position. It is easier too see what is going on around me.

Alexthe

Yes I thank you're right and I appreciate the comment. I like to go down in the drops sometimes in the city, but it's a little tiresome to be there all the time and my bike frame is a little big for me to be ideal so I always come up and ride the top and have to put one hand on the brakes in the drops. I had a brilliant old French bike (1960) which was sadly lost due to a irresponsible friend. That had dual breaking one in the drops and the other on top like the Guidonnet . This bike was so well engineered it was a treasure.
I will post pictures of the messy set up I have at the moment and some old brakes bought from Italy eBay . it's possible if the position of my brakes were changed I might be all right like in the picture above with the yellow bar tape. I also have budgetary considerations.

merziac

I almost never ride in the drops, never raced, back, neck, arms, hands and wrists can't go there and I can't see down there.

That being said, I also can't stomach C+V without them aesthetically.

No mans land.

Murray Missile 

I won't disagree but I have had some success on making them work acceptably well. The quality of lever they are attached will effect their performance. Most of them were mounted on cheaper levers but I've ridden them mounted on better quality levers and they performed better. You have to run good cables and brake pads. Keep the wheels true and minimize pad to rim clearance.

"Big Bird", my 45 lb. Schwinn Varsity, still has chrome rims and the original center pull brakes including turkey levers. I'm running Jagwire cables and cantilever style brake pads. I only use the turkey levers when riding it and they have a very solid feel. I've made a panic stop or two where I actually locked up the rear wheel and the levers didn't bottom out against the handlebar like nearly all I had ridden in the past.

That said if originality isn't a concern it's brifters or aero levers with cyclocross interrupter levers for me whenever practical. ​​​​​​​