Dual brake levers...stupid question...

[daysnways]

My latest edition to the road bike stable has dual brake levers, if i don't want these, is it just a case of undoing the bolt and taking them off leaving the regular lower levers like my other two bikes?

It just sounds too simple? ...and dare i say easy.....

 

[Drago]

Depending on the make, probably.

 

[daysnways]

I really need some wider bars on it, they are only 40s compared to 44s on my other bikes, thus i feel decidedly cramped up and nervy!... so when I do that i'll have a fetal with the levers and see what occurs. They are Weinmann brakes circa 87.

 

[alicat]

Get rid of them. Their alternative name is suicide levers.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I did exactly that back in the day, just undid the bolt and lost the suicide levers

Admittedly I'd have been about 12 at the time and didn't consider any possible consequences

Anyhoo I didn't suddenly hit any walls, kerbs or cars so it mustn't have had any adverse effect

 

[daysnways]

dare i ask.....suicide because....?

 

[RebornBumbler]

I'd be concerned about pretty-much the entire braking system on stuff that old.

I had similar vintage Weinmann levers which had plastic/nylon parts at the cable entry (to supposedly retain the cable) - which disintegrated just as I attempted to stop behind a hard-braking car.

Cue blood, bent bike and semi-hysterical driver.

I don't miss Huret derailleurs, cotter pins, thin hard plastic sticky bar tape or tartan-covered pump hoses either

 

[themosquitoking]

dare i ask.....suicide because....?

^^^ This please, i used them throughout the eighties and i'm pretty sure i'm still alive.
Have a doctors appointment tomorrow so i'll let you all know the official score then.

 

[TheDoctor]

So-called because the extra levers are long, very flexy and won't stop you very well.
I hadn't appreciated just how good modern brakes are till I tried some late - 70s centerpulls

 

[Smokin Joe]

dare i ask.....suicide because....?

Because they don't provide enough leverage for anything more than fairly gentle braking. Should you be on them when you need to apply some real stopping power they will butt against the handlebar well before they have any effect.

Cheap 1980's crap, best binned.

 

[arch684]

I have them on my 1983 raleigh medale that I have owned now for over 31 years but I would never use them. I just like to keep the bike original

 

[Nigeyy]

I think it's a bit of a misnomer and hyperbole there.... I think a more appropriate name would be "nearly-useless-levers". Yeah, I had them back in the 80's and survived too. After approximately one ride you realized these things could only slow you down or stop you at only slow speeds; not quite useless, but close to it. Personally, I never found that they endangered me after that first ride, but they weren't great and there's a reason they aren't around now. And last I checked, I'm also still alive.

dare i ask.....suicide because....?

 

[themosquitoking]

I don't remember them ever frightening me when i used them, it's possible i've blanked it out though.

 

[raleighnut]

I refitted a set to my Raleigh Equipe but more for the retro look, they give reasonable braking but I'm pretty sure the reason for removing them back in the 70s-80s was that wearing thick leather-look gloves (as we did back then) it was easy to get hands trapped under them for a couple of seconds (thumbs especially if riding 'on the bends') preventing access to the brakes on panic stops.
BTW those gloves that your Mum thought were warm and waterproof when she bought them were neither.

 

[jefmcg]

Do they look like this? If so, that's suicide levers.

Or do they look like this?

If so, they are not suicide levers, but just additional brake levers that work well. You can remove this kind by removing them from the handlebars, and recabling. You'll have to cut new cable outers too. Oh, and rewrap the bar if you have 105s or better, as the new outers will have to go from the brifters to the frame.