Cross levers on 46cm Noodle bars?

[Jay]

I bought Forrest's Sam Hillborne and am having it built for commuting
in a mix of interurban roads and city traffic and the occasional tour.
Coming from a sordid MTB past, I currently commute on an old steel
mountain bike with slicks. I ordered the Nitto Noodle bars on faith,
never having actually used drop bars before.
I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to go with cross style
interrupter levers either in addition to or instead of the drop bar
brake levers for better control in traffic.
Or is it just a matter of getting used to the drop bar levers?

Thanks,
Jay

[E.B.]

Regardless of your background, my opinion is that you will definitely
want drop bar brake levers. Without them, you immediately lose one of
the best hand positions (on the hoods). The levers are easy to operate
in the hoods and also give excellent leverage when braking with your
hands "in the drops."

Adding interrupter levers gives you immediate access to the brakes
while riding "on the tops." This riding position puts you more
upright, which in turn improves your sightline while commuting in
traffic. I have interrupters on 46cm Noodles. Some might say they
clutter the bar, add weight or complicate using a h-bar bag. I
somewhat agree, but I still like mine. By the way, mine are Salsa
"Halter Top" levers: beautifully made, comfortable in the hand,
excellent braking modulation, and they match my Noodled Riv perfectly.
While I haven't used the Paul Component cross lever, the others I've
tried (Tektro/CC) were dismal in comparison. The Salsas are a bit
pricey, however.

[Minh]

Personally I would learn to get use to it. But if you need the
security go for it. The 46 bars have a lot of space. And get the
interruptors with split lamps. Then you can take them off laterbwith
minimal fuss.

I had no issue adjusting to drops. The noodle also feels funny at
first but hang in the wide bars ate great.

[Bruce Baker]

I have found that on the Sam because of the frame geometry I use the interrupter levers more than the
brakes.  In fact I'm starting to rebuild my stable and am test riding a Specialized Tricross.  I kept looking for the interrupter levers that weren't there.
If I buy it that is one change I would definitely make....
Bruce

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[PATRICK MOORE]

Not instead; possibly in addition to. But if you have your bars and
drop levers set up properly the question of needing another pair of
levers on the bar's flats doesn't even really arise for pavement
riding; they are useful sometimes for very rough or steep terrain
where you want to get way back on the saddle and thus cannot easily
reach the drop levers; but that apart, there's really no need --
again, if you set drop levers up right. You will probably be using the
hoods position more than any other, in any event, where the brake
levers are right to hand.

I installed them once on a mountain bike with drops and found them
only marginally useful; I debated adding them to my last three off
road bikes, all three also with drops, but decided against it: I
always have the bars high enough that I can reach road levers even
when pushed far off the rear of the saddle.

There is a reason why they are called "cross" levers: they were
developed for use as described above.

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[Steve Palincsar]

On Fri, 2011-07-01 at 14:13 -0700, E.B. wrote:
>
> Adding interrupter levers gives you immediate access to the brakes
> while riding "on the tops." This riding position puts you more
> upright, which in turn improves your sightline while commuting in
> traffic. I have interrupters on 46cm Noodles. Some might say they
> clutter the bar, add weight or complicate using a h-bar bag. I
> somewhat agree, but I still like mine. By the way, mine are Salsa
> "Halter Top" levers: beautifully made, comfortable in the hand,
> excellent braking modulation, and they match my Noodled Riv perfectly.
> While I haven't used the Paul Component cross lever, the others I've
> tried (Tektro/CC) were dismal in comparison. The Salsas are a bit
> pricey, however.

I have 46cm Noodles with Tektro interrupter levers on my Alex Moulton
AM. Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916047@N00/sets/72157624929495699/show/

I also have a couple of bikes with Paul cross levers, which I like a
lot. I wouldn't call the Tektros "dismal" at all. They feel different
than the Paul levers, but they work just fine. And they're very cost
effective.

Incidentally, the two bikes (soon to be 3) with the Paul interrupter
levers both have handlebar bags. I like the levers vertical under the
handlebar, and in that position there's plenty of room behind the bag
for the lever. Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916047@N00/sets/72157606169015639/show/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916047@N00/sets/72157603355855778/show/
Both those bikes have 44 cm Nitto 176 "Dream" bars.

[Steve Palincsar]

On Fri, 2011-07-01 at 15:30 -0600, PATRICK MOORE wrote:
> Not instead; possibly in addition to. But if you have your bars and
> drop levers set up properly the question of needing another pair of
> levers on the bar's flats doesn't even really arise for pavement
> riding; they are useful sometimes for very rough or steep terrain
> where you want to get way back on the saddle and thus cannot easily
> reach the drop levers; but that apart, there's really no need --
> again, if you set drop levers up right. You will probably be using the
> hoods position more than any other, in any event, where the brake
> levers are right to hand.

If you like riding on the bar tops, as I do, you'll find the interrupter
levers very handy.

> I installed them once on a mountain bike with drops and found them
> only marginally useful; I debated adding them to my last three off
> road bikes, all three also with drops, but decided against it: I
> always have the bars high enough that I can reach road levers even
> when pushed far off the rear of the saddle.

This is a personal preference thing. I first started using them on a
commuter bike, where they most decidedly are really handy for riding in
traffic; but I decided I liked them well enough I put them on several
other bikes as well. I have a set of Paul levers on the shelf waiting
for the new MAP Randonneur Project to arrive, and when that's built I'll
have four bikes with interrupter levers, three with Pauls.

[Michael_S]

Not to rile any feathers, but as Patrick said if your bars/top tube are the  right length for you then they become an un-necessary bike addition. I feel that drop bar bikes should be set up so you can ride on the hoods most of the time. The wider stance is better for braking,steering and turning.

 

Buying stock geometry bikes make this a tougher thing to do especially if you  have a shorter torso length. Most of the Rivendell bikes have longer tope tubes so to get the right seat tube frame size sometimes riders end up with 6 or 7 cm stems. When the top tube/stem  is too long riders find a more comfortable postion on the top of the bars and the cross leves become a band-aid to an ill fitting frame. With a custom you can design the bike to fit perfect.

I would say if you want cross levers you should stick with a flat or upright handlebar.

 

~mike

 

 

 

[Horace]

I have the interrupter levers on three road bikes, two of them on Nitto Noodles. I recommend them unconditionally. I probably use them less than 10 percent of the time, but they are simply great to have. There are almost no drawbacks, except that they may interfere with a handlebar bag.

Horace.

[William]

+1 on the opinion that interrupters are a nice to have complement to drop bar levers, but not a substitute for them.  I only have them on one bike, my 56cm Hillborne with 46cm Noodles :)  on my other bikes, I don't run them because they'd get in the way of my handlebar bag.  Because of that, I've gotten accustomed to not using them as much.  I don't find myself reaching for them.  For sure my Hillborne is the easiest of my bikes to ride while drinking coffee, with brakes on the tops. 

[Steve Palincsar]

On Fri, 2011-07-01 at 15:57 -0700, Michael_S wrote:
> Not to rile any feathers, but as Patrick said if your bars/top tube
> are the right length for you then they become an un-necessary bike
> addition. I feel that drop bar bikes should be set up so you can ride
> on the hoods most of the time. The wider stance is better for
> braking,steering and turning.

It's all a matter of personal preference. There are no god-given rules
about this, and as always YMMV. My bars are set up so I can ride on the
hoods, on the bar tops, or on the bar ends, and I use all those
positions. I happen to like having brake levers available at my finger
tips when using the bar tops, and find them no inconvenience. And let
me assure you, my bars, stem and top tube are the right length.

> Buying stock geometry bikes make this a tougher thing to do especially
> if you have a shorter torso length. Most of the Rivendell bikes have
> longer tope tubes so to get the right seat tube frame size sometimes
> riders end up with 6 or 7 cm stems. When the top tube/stem is too
> long riders find a more comfortable postion on the top of the bars and
> the cross leves become a band-aid to an ill fitting frame.

If you believe this is some kind of universal truth, applicable to
everyone who likes these levers, you are dead wrong.

> With a custom you can design the bike to fit perfect.
> I would say if you want cross levers you should stick with a flat or
> upright handlebar.

And to that, I would say "Bull Hockey".

[cyclotourist]

I've found I really love interrupters.  They're one of the few actual bike component improvements in the last decade that really do something useful.  Simple, cheap, lightweight, unobtrusive (mostly).  Great upgrade IMHO.

On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 4:23 PM, William <tape...@gmail.com> wrote:

+1 on the opinion that interrupters are a nice to have complement to drop bar levers, but not a substitute for them.  I only have them on one bike, my 56cm Hillborne with 46cm Noodles :)  on my other bikes, I don't run them because they'd get in the way of my handlebar bag.  Because of that, I've gotten accustomed to not using them as much.  I don't find myself reaching for them.  For sure my Hillborne is the easiest of my bikes to ride while drinking coffee, with brakes on the tops. 

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Cheers,
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Redlands, CA

...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from
improving their taste than from improving their performance. - RTMS

[Peter Pesce]

Another vote here in favor. I had them on Noodles on my Sam and really liked them. Mine were Tektros and were great IMHO. I find that on dirt or gravel I hate riding on the hoods and prefer the flats, the the cross levers are perfect. Maybe too many years of mountain biking. I also use a VO "Rackaleut" to get round bar bag issues. Though you need to stick to small handlebar bags.

I've been testing out rando bars recently, a 45(?)cm Nitto at present, and the cross levers don't work well with them at all.

[Leslie]

Back when I was a kid riding a 10-speed (before mountain bikes had supplanted them as the 'standard' bicycle), they had these funky brakes that not only had the levers for the drops, but from out of the inside of the hoods was an L-lever, so that you could brake from the flats.   Wasn't the greatest functioning thing, but, I used them a lot.  You didn't ride the hoods, it was either in the drops or up top.    Then I changed over to a mountain bike, and hadn't rode a road bike for ages.  

When I first started riding a road bike again, I was a bit caught off guard w/ people riding the hoods.   And not having brakes on the flats.   But when I found cross-levers, it added back in the old L lever, but in a much more functional effective way.   

I'm not as flexible as I used to be.   I used to drop into the drops all the time, even just zipping around the neighborhood.  Now, on a road ride, I've gotten used to the hoods, and will drop to the drops if riding into the wind, but otherwise am usually on the hoods, or back on the flats.  When I'm not on a road, but on a combination walking/biking trail, needing to negotiate around pedestrians or on a mixed surface, I am usually up on the flats instead.   Interrupter levers are a very welcome addition in those circumstances.

If I was building a strict road bike (like a Roadeo), for club-riding only, I might forego them.  Or, if I had a handlebar bag, I can see them getting in the way, but as I don't, that's not an issue. I'm not a weight-weenie, but, that's about the biggest "downside" for me to having them (and isn't really a problem at all);  if you were spending money to move from an Ultegra to a Dura Ace setup to drop a few ounces, then you might not want to add them (but, you'd probably not be on a Rivendell then?).   But, we're riding Rivendells, hopefully we have a like of practicality.   They offer an additional hand-position, that is especially nice on Noodles (I use 48cm bars, FWIW).  I find that my most common relaxed cruising position is back at the corner of the bars, where I can slip over onto the interrupter levers quickly.  

IMHO, FWIW....

[R Gonet]

I have interrupters on all of my three bikes and I use them 3/4 of the
time because I use the hoods most of the time. I also use handlebar
bags on all my bikes and the levers aren't really in the way. I would
go so far as to say that having only the standard levers in the drops
would be awkward and perhaps unsafe for me.

[William]

I discovered interrupters in 1999 when I set up a cross bike for myself.  It was kind of an epiphany for me.  I started setting them up on every bike of mine.  They just made sense to me.  The reverse epiphany happened last summer at Riv HQ.  I was test riding a Hunqapillar with Noodles and SRAM 500 levers without interrupters.  The action on those levers was so pure and clean, I knew I wanted to reproduce it.  I put those SRAM lever on my Bombadil when I set up a drop bar cockpit, and it's awesome.  I then removed the interrupters on my go-fast, and radically improved the feel of the brakelevers.  So for me there was a trade-off.  Interrupters were light, cheap, and made sense, but no interrupters is light-er and cheap-er, and my drop bar levers feel a lot better. 

[Steve Palincsar]

I don't understand how the feel of the brake lever would be any
different with or without the presence of interrupter levers. Nor do I
note any difference in lever feel between the various bikes I have with
and without interrupter levers, all of which have the exact same brake
levers.

[William]

I attributed the improvement in feel to the incremental reduction in friction.  Similar to the difference between quality cables and housing vs, generic. 

[Steve Palincsar]

Where would that reduction in friction come from?

[William]

I can't tell if you are being rhetorical or if you think interrupters are perfectly frictionless and compressionless little miracles. 

Lever-->cable-->housing-->end ferrule-->brake = some friction
Lever-->cable-->housing-->end ferrule-->interupter-->barrel adjuster-->end ferrule-->more housing-->end ferrule-->brake = some friction plus a little bit more

Plus, there's a little bit of an s-curve the housing gets put through that would be a little bit straighter if there weren't an interrupter there. 

My point is that interrupters are great for a bike where you are going to enjoy being able to brake from the tops, and that if you determine you don't need them, that there are a few very small benefits to not using them.  They are: a little less weight, a little less money, a little cleaner looking bike, a little more room on the tops to attach other things, and a little less compression and friction in the braking system.  I use them and like them on some bikes, and don't use them and like not using them on other bikes.  That's it and that's all. 

[Joe Bernard]

I had a Romulus with 46cm Noodles..rode and braked from the hoods most of the time. A newbie to road bars may find the "braking from the hoods" concept a little intimidating, but it works fine most of the time. I eventually added Tektro cross levers, thinking I would use them when cruising the top of the bar. I didn't like the unstable feel of the levers so close to the centerline of the bike, so mostly transitioned to the hoods for braking. A waste of money/clutter/extra weight for me.

 

Joe Bernard

Fairfield, CA.

[E.B.]

Yes, they are cheaper. And they will slow your bike. If pennies are to
be pinched, this is a fine place. But I still find the differences
between the two to be none too subtle.

[Mark in Melbourne]

My 46cm Noodles are my first drop bars, installed with Pauls cross top
levers. They did ease the transition early with a more familiar flat
bar feel, but I ride mostly on the hoods, and after about 6 months, I
started ‘emergency braking’ (the brakes you jump too without thinking)
on the hoods too. Now, after riding drops for 18 months, I very rarely
use the interrupters, and I will take them off next bar tape or cable
swap over.

[erik jensen]

i'm putting interrupters on my atlantis sometime soon, i can ride anything but would enjoy a mtb style perch on long descents offroad. dropping several thousand feet on a loaded bike is simply easier to do when you can shift your weight back a bit more.

seen them, installed them, recommend them. also totally unnecessary.

46cm will work fine.

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[Jay]

Ironic ending is I decided to go for the interupter levers and the
shop I'm working with can't find anything reasonably priced that will
work with v-brakes. I mentioned the Tektro RL740 on the Riv site but
their distributers don't stock 'em. If I want to later I know that I
can order them from Riv and install them myself.

Thanks for all the input. Very helpful bunch, this is.

Jay

[Steve Palincsar]

On Thu, 2011-07-07 at 12:00 -0700, Jay wrote:
> Ironic ending is I decided to go for the interupter levers and the
> shop I'm working with can't find anything reasonably priced that will
> work with v-brakes. I mentioned the Tektro RL740 on the Riv site but
> their distributers don't stock 'em. If I want to later I know that I
> can order them from Riv and install them myself.
>

The Paul levers fit either "road" or V brakes. You move the lever to a
different pivot point. I suppose there are varying interpretations of
whether they're "reasonably priced," though.

[Mike]

I wish I had installed them when putting together my LHT. They seem
useful. I still may before touring in Aug. I'm not sure if I'd put
them on my Hilsen. If I do get them I'll definitely go with the Salsa
ones.

--mike

[BSWP]

I'm adding cross levers to the 46cm Noodles on my LongLow, in a transition from the M-bars I've used on that bike for 15 years. For all who ride with cross brake levers on drop bars, what position have you found best for the long run - angled steeply down, or angled up and out?

- Andrew, Berkeley

[Steve Palincsar]

On Tue, 2013-05-07 at 10:51 -0700, BSWP wrote:

I'm adding cross levers to the 46cm Noodles on my LongLow, in a transition from the M-bars I've used on that bike for 15 years. For all who ride with cross brake levers on drop bars, what position have you found best for the long run - angled steeply down, or angled up and out?

Angled down almost vertical.  Not only does this avoid bag interference, it also puts the levers in a perfect position for me to dangle my fingers down and rest my fingertips on the levers.  Since not all my drop bar bikes have these levers, it's good to be able to do an instant check to be sure those levers are actually there before I try to use them.