My Pinnacle Arkose 3 has those secondary brake levers, mounted to the top of the handlebars and I’d like to remove them.

Having never done this before, is it easy to do? I assume I’ll need new handlebar tape and new brake cables? Are bb7s easy to set up?

PS: before you accuse me of being lazy asking on here, my bike is in the garage and I am stuck inside with genuine, doctor approved flu.

Depending on how they’ve been taped you might get away without re-taping the bars. You’ll need new cable outer as the two bits you will have will likely be a wee bit short. You could fit an inline cable-adjuster or a Middleburn cable oiler as a handy way of butting up the outer where the levers have been removed. BB7 setup can be a wee bit fiddly when you’re not used to it but you’ll find full instructions on the internet and it will be much simplified as you don’t need to adjust the current caliper placement.

You can just get a ferrule to join the two sections of outer if you want the really easy option. Or you could put a couple of Middleburn oilers in

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/middleburn-cable-oilers-4mm-prod31608/

Easy peasy.

No need to remove tape.

Stick one of these in in place of the bar top lever. Also allows another adjustment point too.

Barrel Adjuster

I’ve fitted BB5s to a couple of my bikes like this. Easy set up. Occasional adjustment required but they work great.

BB7 set-up information: http://howtosetuptheavidbb7.weebly.com/how-to-set-up-the-avid-bb7.html

Personally I’d go for a new run of cable. One less point of weakness to think about.

On the opposite tack, I’m going to be getting my first road bike soon, and have been toying with having those kind of levers fitted, so that I can brake from the tops.

I might be mad, and I’m sure the Velominati Mafia will be quick to declare me a heretic, but I’d like to give it a go.

Anybody else use them?

I really wouldn’t bother bob. if you don’t want to use the drops or the hoods, just change to flat bars.

^^^ I had them on my Jake the Snake, but not on it’s replacement, which was a Croix De Fer. I missed them….

They were really useful in traffic/commuting as it allowed easy hard braking from the tops. Off road less so, as at any speed, or bumpiness, my hands would have to be too close in for control, so tended to be on the drops or hoods.

I now have hydraulics which have good power from the hoods, so less of a miss.

Depends on your preferred hand position. I prefer my hands to point as though I’m shaking hands and on the lever hoods, to use the CX levers I had to move my hands first. My CX levers are now in a box, which has freed up lots of handlebar space for computers, lights, and all of the other stuff that I can’t possibly cycle without 🙂