Barracuda - Totally Driven!

Hello all-

I finally scored a set of Dia-Compe "Batwing" brake levers today! Probably more than I would care to pay for used brake levers but these little gems don't pop up too often, so I had to jump on the BUY IT NOW option. Since these are not coming with any instructions, I'm curious if any of you have ever owned a pair of these levers? I know, it's a brake lever, why would I need instructions? These levers are unique in the fact that they can be adjusted for "reach" (with the spinning adjuster), for "cable stretch" (the black barrel adjuster that you first put the cable through on the back side) and "spring tension" (the big round adjuster on bottom). I'm just looking for someone who has experience with these levers as I'm curious how sensitive they are in "dialin' in" the proper set up. Also, I seem to recall that road brake cables worked better than mountain bikes cables. I'm hoping someone on here has some background with these levers. The other cool thing about them besides the unique look, they flow the cable housing from under the bar instead of over the top. This provides a cleaner look in my opinion. I have a set of fillet brazed Bullmoose Nitto bars that I saved off my '84 Stumpjumper, I think the round look of the lever with be complemented by the fillet brazing on the handlebar and also pick up the fillet brazed head tube on my '88 Schwinn Cimarron. I plan to run these levers with some XT thumb shifters and bamboo fenders and whatever else I have sitting around. I have a road bike commuter but I used my old race frame, so it's not so comfortable for every day commuting. I'm going with the Cimarron because it has longer chainstays and much more slack geometry.

Any helpful bit of info would be appreciated, please let me know, thanks!

The first picture is my Cimarron (yes, I know it needs new paint), the next 3 pictures below are the actual pics of the levers that I bought, the next picture (is from a klunker build I found online) shows how the lever mounts and flows the cable under the bar, and the last picture (also found online) is what the levers look like mounted with thumb shifters, the same set up that I'm planning.

Ok so they are different....any set up info on line for those things,how bout reviews on them where they talk about them?

Nope, no info on these bad boys... they are 25 years old.

I gave up looking for info on the levers, so I headed outside to pull my Schwinn Cimarron out and begin to test fit everything. First things first, I had to tear down that '82 Stumpjumper I bought. I figure some people would rather have the Stumpjumper over a Cimarron, not me brother... mass produced tig welded frame from Japan over an American made fillet brazed and lugged frame... no thanks! The Cimarron would take 4 or 5 times longer to make, that type of quality is almost unheard of these days. Plus, I miss my Ritchey Timber Comp, so I'm going to build this one up similar to the mid-80's Ritchey... first generation Shimano XT "Deerhead" brakes, painted fillet brazed Ritchey Bullmoose bars, Ritchey "Bi-plane" fork, TA crankset, etc.. I'll include a picture of the fillet brazed Bullmoose bars, so you can see how the bars "flow" and why I wanted these levers to add to the "flow" of the cockpit.

I'm off work until the the 7th, so I'll have some time to sand the frame, and get busy polishing the aluminum, and after it's painted I have a NOS set of waterslide decals ready to go!

p.s. The picture of my Ritchey won't load for some reason, I've included a picture of my buddy's Timber Comp, it's exactly like mine but mine was blue.

Hope you enjoy your Christmas vacation and Bike build to relax.

vpc66 wrote:Hope you enjoy your Christmas vacation and Bike build to relax.

Thanks Vinny, I'd love to take your advise but I'll be working down at my LBS instead of working at home. My buddy that owns the LBS had two mechanics call out until after New Years, he was in a pinch and I offered to help out... me and my big mouth! Oh well, if I get some time to sand the Cimarron and prep at home, then I'll be happy.

I'll update if there is something to report... Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!!

Hey all-
Being that I'm helping out down at my LBS, I've had some time to play around with my dirt drop set up on my Cimarron. A few key changes have occurred... the vintage Bullmoose bars have been replaced with a set of SOMA Sparrow bars and the XT thumb shifters and "Batwing" have been swapped out for some Shimano STI "Brifter" levers. I'm again changing directions with the cockpit set up... I'd much rather try everything in the mock up stages of the build as opposed to doing a tear down later. I'm all about SOMA Sparrow bars, I love 'em, me and the Sparrows have a history together... I built up a single speed cyclocross bike and ran the Sparrow bars on that bike with great results! Being the Sparrow bars are a must for this build and I'm not pleased with the XT thumb shifters and "Batwing" levers, I'm switching up and going with Shimano STI levers. The snag is the Sparrow bars are not compatible with 23.8mm road levers because the Sparrow clamp area is the mountain bike standard size of 22.2mm. Some research this morning yielding many suggestions for beer/soda cans or electrical tape as a shim but that simply isn't acceptable. That's a lot of aluminum can wrappings to make up the 1.6mm needed for a secure clamp for the STI levers. So, I made my own shims from 6061 aluminum I had in the parts bin, it took some work but the results are certainly worth the effort!

Pictured below:
1. My custom Area 51 CX bike with SOMA Sparrow bars
2. The Cimarron fitted with SOMA Sparrow bars and a Nitto rise quill stem
3. The shim I made from 6061 aluminum tubing
4. The shim fitted within the STI clamp (notice the 23.8-24.2 expandable size in the last photo)
5. The securely attached STI "Brifter" lever on the SOMA Sparrow bar

S u c c e s s ! ! !

So many forums I visited regarding this topic, all said the same thing, STI levers will not work on Sparrow bars. One bike mechanic specifically said, "LOOK MAN, I KNOW 'CUZ I'M A PROFESSIONAL BIKE MECHANIC AND IT CAN'T BE DONE! PERIOD. END OF STORY, NOW MOVE ON!" All that brought me back to my Jr. High shop teacher who said almost anything was possible with some ingenuity, patience, and hard work. I guess the "professional" was wrong and the tinker in his garage proved the shop teacher right.

It feels great when you beat the odds....HAPPY for you

Thanks brother Vinny! It does feel good to quiet those negative voices! Maybe as one temporary bike mechanic to the "professional" I managed to prove him wrong. You know what gets me, especially the old guys, back in the day they made a certain size handlebar and everybody shimmed up what they needed to fit. It's bending thin pieces of metal, it's not some great piece of metalsmith skills going on! Makes me laugh...

How's the new year treating you? Did Santa bring you any bike parts for Christmas? Any progress on your build?

Thanks again for the encouragement! The build is coming along nicely, almost down to pure metal all around, getting ready for paint! Most pics to come...

Peace,

-D-

No parts for me...I have that specialized ghetto put together,heck I took cable off my daughters 20" bike because she did not use the hand brakes and being one of those kids bikes they run coaster and hand....well it help out,plus some cheap department store brakes that were laying around and the seat off the LOTUS,the stem has a crack and the tires are dry rotted and old cranks from my Dale set up for single speed 42/18 gear but I was able to see what it rides like...lets just say if I come into money things will change..By the way you build for folks and they pay you RIGHT,that makes you a professional just like who ever was thumping their chest!

You name your bikes so I thought I would name this one...being a Specialized Hard Rock Ultra I named it Ultra Ghetto