Anyone give me some advice on drop bar brake levers for a single speed that have the most comfort? I've had SRAM rival levers on a 1x10 for several years and put lots of miles on the bikes they were on. But they always had an annoying bump where the brifter met the bar. They never had a smooth transition. No matter what I tried with extra padding that bump was always felt. Kind of like the princess and the pea lol. I'm thinking about some Cane Creek or tektro levers. Opinions?
most comfy drop bar brake levers
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
For a single speed, take a look at TRP Hylex. (Assuming you have disc brakes. )
I would rank them up there with Dura Ace/Ultegra in terms of comfort.
You can get a bit of gel or handlebar tape under the hood on most calipers, if that would help with the transition. (Having said that, I have never had this issue with Ultegra or TRP Hylex, or Crampy Athena).
I would rank them up there with Dura Ace/Ultegra in terms of comfort.
You can get a bit of gel or handlebar tape under the hood on most calipers, if that would help with the transition. (Having said that, I have never had this issue with Ultegra or TRP Hylex, or Crampy Athena).
I've got BB7 Roads. I'm not ready to upgrade the whole brake system
The TRP Hylex are not only comfortable, they possess the additional merit of being able to stop your bike.
Thank you
I'm sure they are very nice. Always heard good things about trp. Avid BB7S on 2 bikes and both stop plenty good with decent modulation. Maybe not was "set it and forget it" as my slx hydros on bike number 3 admittedly but still a good brake if set up and adjusted properly.
If you can find old Shimano ultegra or 105 levers with broken shifting internals that is the best. The 5700/6700 series and newer are the ones I like the best. Also the older DI2 levers seem to go really cheap some times which seems odd. The TRP RRL or what ever they call them are the next best. Both the TRP and Shimano levers have more of a flat spot on the top where they connect to the bars. The Tektro levers tend to be very rounded there and I found them uncomfortable. I have never used the cane creek but the look like the tektro ones.
Joined
·
1,212 Posts
That's too bad. I find that the ergonomics of the SRAM hydro levers are superior to anything I've used before, and the taller body of the lever (where the piston/reservoir is housed) offers an additional hand-position not (easily/comfortably) achieved by mechanical levers.
Additionally, the adjustable reach of the hydro levers help setting up an off-road drop-bar with less compromise between the drops and hoods.
My Gevenalle levers fit nice on both my cowbells and cowchippers but they are back on my Fargo. I am planning on new bars to go with the levers. The bars I am looking at are the Ritchey Beacon bars. These bars have such a shallow drop that I am drooling
Gevenalle levers are a retrofit that uses the TRP ones I mentioned (combined with bar end shifters). I had them on the Ritchey bars BTW and they worked ok, but I wound up not liking those bars and now have them on more conventional FSA bars with a six degree flare. I think the main trick is to get them positioned high enough up so that the transition from the tops of the bars is essentially flat.
Joined
·
899 Posts
I’ve got TRP RRL Alloy brake levers on a couple of bikes and I really like them. One of the bikes is a 32 year old road bike and the ancient brake levers that were on there was a major source of discomfort compared to my newer bikes. The TRPs have that big flat surface that new combo brake levers have. Plus the levers are angled to the outside which I think works better with flared bars. Though neither bike I have them on have flared bars, I also like them better on normal straight drop bars.
Not sure what year of levers you had but I'm pretty sure my Gevenalle brifters are mounted on Tektro levers. Anyways you're correct. I got them at just the right height on the cowchippers and they have a smooth as a baby's butt transition. Combined with a good double padded bar wrap and it makes a handle grip you could hold on to forever. The one thing that appeals about the beacon bar is It looks like you can get in the drops with more comfort without putting a super high-rise stem on. On my Fargo that's not necessary because of the super high stack height. But on my Wolverine, even though it's got a pretty high stack height for what it is, it's no fargo for sure. I love it when the drops are high enough that you can ride in them for a while in comfort and not just for short burst when you're fighting the wind or trying to be more aero.
TRP = high-end Tektro.
Gevenalle takes the TRP Hylex and mounts (microshift?) bar-end levers on them.
So if you like those and want the same thing without shifting, you can get them for about $100 each at Universal Cycles.
Gevenalle takes the TRP Hylex and mounts (microshift?) bar-end levers on them.
So if you like those and want the same thing without shifting, you can get them for about $100 each at Universal Cycles.
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
