Can’t see this mentioned, but it’s got me excited

3-peaks winner Paul Oldham was running some prototype inline hydraulic cross top levers.

http://www.hopetech.com/three-peaks-cyclocross/

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/206054-hope-unveils-new-inline-hydraulic-crosstop-brake-levers-paul-oldham-winning

Hope crafts custom prototype Hydraulic Crosstop levers for 3 Peaks winner Paul Oldham

I noticed a lot of the leaders using cross tops (aka chicken levers) when browsing photos. I did wonder if the Hope guys had something fancy – I couldn’t see a V-Twin reservoir or anything like that – this confirms it.

Before anyone says you don’t need them, probably not for normal CX, but I keep a set for this race alone. My cable to hydro caliper setup still requires too much effort on the levers for my liking, but I don’t want to go full hydro without the cross top option, so this looks like progress.

Before anyone says you don’t need them

I need them. Despite taking everyone’s advice on bar position, etc, I still can’t do proper off-road descending on the drops.

I need them, I get really bad pain in my right elbow using the brakes on the drops

I made a set of these a few years ago. Just a set of Hope brakes on standard size bars but mounted inwards. Cables pulled the levers on. Decided I didn’t like them so cut the levers off. Sort of a primitive version of the Hope converter thing that came out a few years later.
Copied mine from and idea on the web.
Not a bad idea for a change of position. They do place your hands close together which is less stable than the drops on very rough ground.

They do place your hands close together which is less stable than the drops on very rough ground.

Bizarrely, bars on proper off-road bikes are getting wider, not narrower. I guess these work as long as you’re not having to manoeuvre the bike much.

Bet it’s a right pig to bleed with two master cylinders!

Bizarrely, bars on proper off-road bikes are getting wider, not narrower. I guess these work as long as you’re not having to manoeuvre the bike much.

It’s not so much about the width as about not being as low over the front. Plus being mountain bikers we’re just used to that position for handling and braking.

Bet it’s a right pig to bleed with two master cylinders!

There’s only 1 master cylinder, the Sram one.

Looks like the “extra” lever is effectively just reducing the volume of the hydraulic line. So as long as there isn’t anywhere for bubbles to hang up inside the hope cylinder (hang the levers straight down, or upside down maybe?) it should be straightforward to bleed. If a little fiddly.

Seen a similar system on a car before, a secondary, in-line hydraulic actuator on the brakes.

I’d class it as two master cylinders, but only one reservoir. The sram lever, when pulled, works as normal, with all the fluid displacement going to the caliper as the cross top lever is fully retracted with nowhere else to go.

When the cross top lever is pulled, a seal on that master piston passes over and closes the port to the sram lever and then acts on the slave pistons at the caliper.

Release the cross top lever and the master piston fully retracts and exposes the port to the sram lever again and more importantly, the reservoir, which can then compensate for any pad wear or fluid expansion that just occurred.

If the cross top lever didn’t close off the route to the sram lever when pulled, it would just refill the reservoir before moving the caliper pistons.

Yes, fair point. I was fairly knackered when responding last time and didn’t read properly.