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Chopped Levers (With Pics)... Anyone Use This? Pros? Cons?


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i have been messing with my levers to ingage my clutch with one finger smashing them and on the brake the same way should i adjust them so they ingage farther from the grip right now the lever fully squeezed to work . plus alot of operator error (not alot of adjustment for that ) :dunce:

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  • 4 weeks later...

The more exact way to bend cast aluminum...other than "hot, but not too hot"...is to rub the lever with white soap, heat until the soap turns black, then immediately quench in water (or your favorite quench...oil...lard...the blood of your adversaries...)

At what stage in your process do you actually bend the aluminum?

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Hi guys, its been 2 days since i ride this no-seat bikes and find really uncomfortable with stock levers, specially the clutch... Ive been riding bycicle trials, stunting sportbikes and riding enduro with chopped levers. where I just operate the levers with my index finger...

Pros that found are...

-You dont pinch your other 3 fingers with the lever

-As you will be woriking the lever closer to the bar, with almost a closed fist stance. wou will be using a stronger muscle group (1st flange, rather than 2nd and 3rd for non chopped) for working the clutch and front brake gives you less cramps and is more precise to control under stressful rides

-Lowers the chance of a broken lever (less profile to catch them or or hit them against something and if happens less leverage means less chance to brake them)

-Less weight

-Looks nice.

I havnt found ANY CONS...that stops me from chopping my levers also in my trials bike... And as im new to this id like you guys to tell me if theres any REAL WORLD reason to leave them stock.... (And please dont tell me i can stab myself with the pointy ball-less lever :D :D :D)

This is the stock setup of the bike....

pzjz.jpg

Now, lets imagine you grab the bars and prepare to operate those levers...

wnl2.jpg

When yo pull in... (imagine green bars as fingers and red arrows as force vectors, Red lines indicate lever travel stops) ...If you clutch in hard or brake in really hard you will end pinching your fingers, and in the case of the brake, limiting the the travel hence power!)

g8um.jpg

And this is what happens with CHOPPED LEVERS under the same conditions...

zohr.jpg

If anyone is using this, i would like to know....If theres any reason i shouldnt do this i also want to know... :D

Had the same issues....moved the levers perch farther inward on the bars so my finger would line up more with the ball end of the lever...also, most important, get a good feel of how much you should pull the lever, a lot of it is just a matter of knowing when to stop pulling in.
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I think this way

If this was the perfect setup, then it would be that way for the last decade, and the pros would be all over it

The idea of the clutch is not to disengage it and pull it to the bar 30mm after it disconnects

It's to pull it to the disengement point and feel where it slips and keep it close to that point so you can use the slip point

I say adapt to the bike like 99.5% of experienced riders rather than adapt the bike to achieve a result that is not beneficial

Again, it's the slip point that matters, the lever does not have to be squeezed all the way

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The only time I have a problem of the lever hitting my fingers is when I smack a tree with the lever..............come to think of it, that happens too often...........

LOL, ya, there is a good argument

Nothing like bumping the brake lever on something during a low speed maneuver

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I had used chopped levers for a while, (as I had the same thought's once about levers) and it worked when everything where going where you wanted to ride ... . I found levers that where chopped and with ball ends, (see picture).

But when things got accidently different as thought and suppose and you really need the brake or clutch very quick

then it can happen that you are grasping at nothing...

Now I use the standard levers again, it was a nice try out but in my personal experience not again ...

175%2527er+Bultaco+02.jpg

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Yes I do this to every bike in the first week I own them.

You have to keep the front brake pads in good order so the one finger pull is enough.

Don't cut off as much as you think you should as it can't be undone :o)

Also don't forget to push the leaver clamps inward so that you have the maximum leverage to the leaver

I normally cut off the ball end plus 10mm. Then bend the end of a leaver around a mandrel or a bolt clamped in a vice to get a small section to become a 'hook'. But..... getting the original alloy leaver to bend is a HUGE challenge..... Most of the time it cracks.... Try heating the end of the leaver with a blow torch to try and get the temper out of the alloy.... And if it cracks you will have to have it welded.

Also do you know you can get Beta "shorty" leavers. They are very good and work just fine doing just what you want. Then you can keep your standard leavers as spares

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