My mate has snapped the brake lever on his Shimano Alvio disk brake. The local bike shop have told him that he has to replace the whole brake and cant just replace the lever.
Can this be done? the geezer in the bike shop seemed a bit of a cowboy...
I'd wager thats bollocks as the LBS spotted a newb.
Almost certainly will the levers be available separately. Have a lookie on CRC and you'll find what you need.
Take it they are M485's. Can't see why you can't replace the lever with any from the Shimano range, as the techdocs indicate the lever is a totally seperate item, would go with what ever I could get cheapest
Lever
Brake Caliper
Sounds odd to me, I'd be suprised if you can't get a new lever although Shimano seem a bit tight with spares, so you might not be able to get a new individual blade.
I've just built a bike for my partner using entry level M445s and I can't see any reason why you couldn't use them with any other Shimano lever. That said it might be worth checking and I've always found the UK Shimano Service Centre at CustomerCare@Madison.co.uk pretty good at helping out with Shimano tech. related queries.
There are M445 levers on ebay, although oddly, all from Greece or get your LBS (although not the one that says you can't get them) to order you one through [url= http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?vertical=cycling&tier1=braking+components&tier2=Brake+Levers+-+MTB+%26+Flat+Bar&catref=BLM445LS ]Madison[/url] for £12.99.
You can't replace the lever blade in the basic brakes, it would be a whole new lever assembly. It sounds like a misunderstanding rather than an attempt to rip anyone off.
alivio brakes aren't even listed on Madison's site yet,so spares may be a bit of an issue, and after working on one recently it seems that the lever blade's not really designed to be removable.