Brakes for a fixie

General Help
1

Hi All,
I’m in the process of building up a fixie and I’ve just about got everything sorted except the brakes.

I want to run a front brake an wondering the best way to go about it?

I don’t want a standard road lever because I think that would make the bike look unbalanced, so what are my options?

BMX/MTB lever?

What about the calipers?

Am I stuck with Shimano (or copies) if I want to be able to take whe wheel off without using tools?

Thanks for your help.

2

Start here: fixed gear gallery.

Keep browsing till you find something you like :slight_smile:

Lots of options, and most road bike brakes will work ok. If you don’t like the shimano copies - there are campy copies, old-style single pivots, fancy “aero” and if you don’t need to slow much with the brake- cool looking modolos :wink:

Also - nothing wrong with a bit of asymmetry.

3

If you’re using drop bars your best options are aero lever or cyclocross lever (also some BMX levers will fit drop bars, sometimes with a shim).

If you’re using bullhorns, your best options are TT lever or cyclocross lever.

If you’re using flat/riser bar your best option is an MTB lever.

If you want to use drop bars and symmetry is the problem, get Cane Creek aero levers and I’ll give you a matching Cane Creek tandem dummy lever.

4

Cross lever on drops works great and doesn’t look too ugly.

5

I run BMX levers near the stem on my two fixeds. I have to pry them open further to fit them on the track drops, but they work fine. I ride mainly on the top. I’ve used the same lever on flop n’ chopped bullhorns too. They were like $9 for the levers, they’re “Pro Rush” or something.

Hope that helps.

6

big fan of my specialized lever i found in a junk bin

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?a=b&minisite=10029&spid=25304&language=US

fits perfectly on my drops, too! heres one someone polished up, found it online

<img src=http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/landres/IMGP1441.jpg>

7

My Paul E-Lever makes me happy!

8

have a look around for a lever designed to work with road calipers, or cantilever brakes.
if you use aa MTB lever, you’ll get very weak, wooden brake performance.
cross levers are pretty good, and if you don’t mind the large size, shimano road set deore levers are great. good feel, and lots of power to the caliper.

9

Thanks everyone for your help.

I’ve got a lot of inspiration now. (darn you NDF for pointing me towards fixedgear gallery - now I’ll never get any work done :-D)

I think I’ll head down the small-lever-on-the-top-of-the-drops path (thanks for the pics - JKL, seajaye and epper).

Now all I have to do is find the right levers.

It seems that building up a bike from scratch is never ending :roll:.

Cheers…