Center pull brakes-What levers?

[tnort...@gmail.com]

So for those of you using center pull brakes and alt bar vs. a drop. What levers are you using?

Currently I have mustache bars with old Dia Compe road levers. Just too "squishy" ..

[Mark in Beacon]

The question is a little unclear. Since you are using mustache bars, you are confined to the same levers as drop bars. Old non-aero Dia Compe levers should work fine with DC or Weinmann center pulls, probably Mafac Racers, too, though I haven't run those in a while. If you go to, say, an Albatross or other "alt bar", basic city levers such as can be found at VO and other places have always worked just fine with my center pull setups. Maybe performance is being affected by the routing, or the position of the levers on the M bars. But assuming standard issue cp brakes with basic levers for drop or road, they should set up to work well.

[Brad]

Is the squishy in the lever or in the cable hanger (stop)? 

On Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 4:47:27 PM UTC-4 tnort...@gmail.com wrote:

[tnort...@gmail.com]

Brad,

I would say it is in the lever.

[Brad]

Take a close look at the connection between the cable housing and the lever body.  Sometimes the cable housing or the piece that fits between the cable housing and the lever itself can exist in a partially seated state and screw things up.  Note that Mafac levers use the same cable housing end as flat levers.  It has a smaller barrel. 

[JohnS]

On my Riv Quick Beam with mustache bars, I use Tektro RX4.1 reverse brake levers, work great. On my Surly Pacer, I use old Shimano 105 brake levers with Dia Compe GC610 center pull brakes, also work great. I did switch the pads to a cartridge and JagWire red pad inserts. On both bikes I use JagWire pro-slick cables and housings.

JohnS