Not Had Interrupter Levers For Over 25 Years. Today, I Tried To Use Them.

[PaulSB]

Something like 12-15 years ago I was hit by a driver. One of the resulting injuries was a broken right hand and significant damage to the tendon attached to the base of the thumb - I could rotate the thumb through 360⁰ It was six months or perhaps more before I could pull own the right lever sufficiently to make it work.

To keep me on the road my LBS fitted inline levers which worked very well and allowed me back on the bike quickly.

The downside was once I returned to using the standard lever it took a year for me to "unlearn" the instinct to reach for the inline lever. Took a lot of concentration to break that instinct.

 

[raleighnut]

Yes, what were those all about! They certainly looked sporty, but did they actually do anything useful?

There was a rumour that a bike 'had' to have mudguards but really all they did was keep crud away from the brake pivot bolt (course cool riders had 'centre pulls' though)

 

[raleighnut]

I liked suicide levers. Granted, they were not as efficient as the drop brakes but they were good enough.

If the brakes were adjusted correctly I found they were sufficient for most situations.

I remember several times when the brakes were a bit worn having to pull the levers up higher than the handlebars to get the bike to stop.

I used to like the fact I could just coast along with my hands on the top of the handlebars. Hoods back then were not as comfortable. There was no rubber cover over the brake and the space between the brake and the hood was not as generous.

Edit: I think on those Weinmann brakes shown above there were gaps in the metal where the brake attached to the handlebar. If you held it for too long it hurt your hands.

I've always ridden with my hands 'on the bends' of drops with my thumbs pointing forwards as shown by the wear on the bar tape* of my Equipe

From that position you can push up on the levers with your fingers to get adequate braking.

* BTW that tape is worse than it looks at first glance, it isn't grubby white tape it was black when I fitted it.

 

[JtB]

I had a similar experience with the bosses car a couple of weeks ago when I tried to indicate left by turning on the windscreen wipers.

My first car was an Austin Allegro where the horn was on the end of one of the steering stalks and the windscreen washer was on the end of the other. After driving a hire van for a week where the configuration was reversed and then reverting back to my car, I found myself stopped at a red light behind another car thinking that the windscreen was a bit dirty. Yeap, I inadvertently gave a quick blow of the horn whereupon the car in front shot off on red thinking the lights had changed.

 

[mjr]

I actually tried to pull up on something I haven't even seen for over two decades.

Yep, I did the same when riding a road bike for the first time in 10-15 years. Went to pull the suicides just to remove a bit of speed before turning into the front yard, damn near ended up in the hedge!

BTW, Suicides are not interrupters aka crosstops.

 

[figbat]

On a brake lever confusion tangent, one summer a few years ago had I spent a lot of time on my MTB but hadn’t ridden my motorbike a lot. One day I set out on my motorbike for a weekend trip and at the first junction I reached I had to stop quite sharply - I instinctively grabbed both levers on the bars.

On a car control location reversal tangent, having the indicator stalk on the right is a RHD thing - my 1977 Mini had this, so did my 1991 Honda CRX. Much better for RHD countries where you can be simultaneously changing gear and using the indicators. Same goes for the fuel filler location, on the left for RHD cars is better for roadside top ups. European consistency and mass production has largely wiped this out. However, at the time I had the CRX I was able to switch seamlessly between cars and use the correct lever. So much so that I once had a go in a friend’s car and, since it wasn’t my CRX I automatically reached for the left-side lever to indicate... trouble is I was driving my friend’s CRX.

 

[wheresthetorch]

My 1980s Raleigh has them, and they are pretty ineffective!

 

[Lovacott]

Yep, I did the same when riding a road bike for the first time in 10-15 years. Went to pull the suicides just to remove a bit of speed before turning into the front yard, damn near ended up in the hedge!

BTW, Suicides are not interrupters aka crosstops.

Back in the day when I had them, they were just called brakes. I only used the word "interrupter" in this thread because the cycling community seems to recognise such devices as interrupters.

But all said and done, they are just another way to stop the bike.

 

[Seevio]

No, you just ended up with a brown streak up your back

Was that from when you try to use pull up levers on a steep hill?

 

[mjr]

Back in the day when I had them, they were just called brakes. I only used the word "interrupter" in this thread because the cycling community seems to recognise such devices as interrupters.

They really don't. Interrupters are a different (better) design. I think suicides were properly called auxilliary levers but suicides or turkeys are the name that stuck.