Hi

So, as you may be aware, my o/h is now getting back into riding with one arm but the brakes on his new bike currently won’t allow the left lever to be flipped over and stacked up with the right one on the right bar, which is his current preferred setup.
We had the idea of buying a new right lever to replace the left one but because of the shape of the reservior on it, they don’t stack close together enough to work for him.
This is not helped by the fact that we are inexperienced and totally inept where bike components are concernered – please be patient with us…

Since my brakes need upgrading I have said I’d buy his old ones off him and he’s going to treat himself to a new, full set of brakes but is unsure what to go for.

They need to have levers where the reservoir is flat, like the juicy ones are, so that they can stack one above the other and where it doesn’t matter which side you put the lever on (which I guess, by definition, ones with a flat reservoir would be fine for too)

One of the LBSs recommended Avid Elixirs which have an integrated reservoir and they look suitable from the pics we have seen, but he’s not sure if they are totally overkill for his riding style/ability.
He’s riding routes graded blue in the vertebrate guide books, houndkirk moor/road, nothing too steep or rocky, just to give you an idea of his current technical ability.

Does anyone have any recommendations – does the Elixir sound like the right kind of thing, or can you suggest anything more appropriate? Is the general rule with brakes buy the best you can afford or is there a point where it just gets silly and wasteful?

Thanks,

T

One of my mates rides with one arm and he has a single lever set up with a brake bias to distribute the power between front and rear brakes. It works really well, is cheap and easy to use. The only down point is it uses cable discs.

I’m sure your LBS can sort you out with the neccessary bits.

Good luck.

Have you looked at the new Deores?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38418
Big pic
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/LargeImage.aspx?ModelID=38418&FileName=38418.jpg

Struggling to find much more about them, though.

I’d look at Olies solution – a single lever/reservoir with the hose ‘split’ to operate both brakes simultaneously.

It’s the sort of thing BenKinetics use to do I think (what happened to him?).

My friend has the new deores and while I really like the way they look and the added adjustments, she isn’t blown away by them. “They just feel like brakes” is her comment.

“They just feel like brakes”
Sound perfect!

juicy 3, 5, 7’s will flip and the 3’s and 5’s wouldn’t be overkill or expensive

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but does ‘flip flop’ levers just mean you can put either lever on either bar? I assume that’s the case, but just checking….

WRT two brakes fed from one lever – we looked into that early on but he’s kind of used to riding with 2 seperate levers stacked together so he is quite happy to stick with that set up.

Just using the word flip same as swap really – no technical term, just mean you can run them either side without doing anything to them

once saw a pic of a guy on a SX one arm’d. Think he was running juicy’s?

ALternatively those 4wheeled mountainbikes run some kind of double hfx-9 lever arangement.

On a bit of a tangent, how about this for a project……………
gripshifter and dual controll brake lever? grip shift for the gears, and take the ratchet out the shifter in the Dc lever? Could you opperate the rear brake by pushing down and the front by pulling in?

ChristoGinger – I think it was used on the Deore link, I just wasn’t certain what it meant.

Thanks all.
I think he’s going with the Avids anyway, the LBS have done him a good deal. 🙂

I agree it’s probably worth persevering with two separate levers for more control choices, but if you did decide to look again at a single lever setup, Magura do one for the pedicab and trike market (called Magura BIG system) which can be used to feed two MTB calipers.

Might also be worth looking at cable pull discs, as there are a wider range of lever types available and getting a set which sit well together on the bar might be easier. Use these to pull Avid BB5 or BB7 calipers for a good setup.Look especially at Diatech Gold Finger lever which is designed to only fit one finger alongside a full size lever. Good luck with it, there’s a solution out there to suit.

midlifecrashes – the cable option finally occured to me after reading a few of the earlier replies on here. I think we’d got that fixated on hydraulic that we just ‘forgot’ other brakes are available.

I am going to point this thread out to J and get him to set up his own login on here so he can come and ask questions himself.

Thank you all for helping out again. It is always very much appreciated. 🙂

When surfing I found this site which has info on modifications and stuff – might be useful
http://www.mtb-amputee.com/bikemodifications.htm

I’ve just bought these lovelies that can be flipped