# boutique brake levers recommendation



## signalMTB (Aug 17, 2007)

looking for recommendations on some v-brake levers. I want something CNC, maybe old school or new old school, but definitely boutique. Maybe like Paul Compacts, or some NOS Kookas, Dangerboy, etc. something like that. Any and all recommendations please.


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

Avid made some killer machined brake levers.


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## laffeaux (Jan 4, 2004)

I've used Avid and Paul and like both.


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## datasurfer (Nov 24, 2006)

laffeaux said:


> I've used Avid and Paul and like both.


+1:thumbsup:

those are my two all time fav's. I also have a set of late model Gravity Research levers...at least I think that they are Gravity Research as indicated by engrace "GR". Those rock as well.


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

Paul's were decent. The ones I got in 1995 had a bit of an issue, though- the pivot was made of brass and not at all sealed, and the exterior of the brass would become impreganted with filth. They required periodical opening and cleaning. They also are a shade flexy.
Avids were nice, too, better than Paul's- stiffer, and of course adjustable, plus easier to remove from the bar.
The best lever of that time were any Shimano SLR Plus levers.


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## crux (Jan 10, 2004)

+1 Vote for the old school Avid Ultimates.


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## Jason B (Aug 15, 2008)

When I hear "boutique brake levers" I don't think of Avid, I think of companies like Straitline or Twenty6.

http://www.straitlinecomponents.com/products/levers.php

http://www.twenty6products.com/products/


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Altek's were hot for a while...

Imo they all blow compared to Shimano xt or xtr.....or high end Dia Compe.

-Schmitty-


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## IF52 (Jan 10, 2004)

Not sure they were boutique, but I always liked the Real levers.


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## mechagouki (Nov 30, 2007)

M900 for cantis m95X for Vees - nothing else works as well. Of course if you're just going to look at the bike rather than actually ride it, just put on whatever is prettiest.


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## ameybrook (Sep 9, 2006)

Another vote for Real. Probably the best boutique lever I've used. Classy looking too, not all obnoxious like Machine Tech, Kooka & Grafton.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

M900's actually work really well for v's. I know, I know, there not supposed to. Try it.

-Schmitty-


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## steadite (Jan 13, 2007)

uphiller said:


> Paul's were decent. The ones I got in 1995 had a bit of an issue, though- the pivot was made of brass and not at all sealed, and the exterior of the brass would become impreganted with filth. They required periodical opening and cleaning. They also are a shade flexy.


I wonder if they've changed the design...I just got some and was impressed how silky-smooth and solid (flex free) they feel. The pivot is beautifully machined and is what makes them feel so finely crafted. I will grant you that they will probably need to be disassembled and cleaned occasionally, but it looks pretty simple.


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## 251 (May 13, 2008)

I've been happy with my Paul's Love Levers. I originally used them with Paul's Motolites, and now with BB7s.


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## signalMTB (Aug 17, 2007)

Thanks to all for the responses. I've got a set of NOS Precision Billet v-brakes but the levers have eluded me. Those straitlines and Twenty6 levers were sweet, but I think they're just the actual lever replacement. I've got a line on a set of used Kookas, but a new set of Pauls is awfully tempting.


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

All the SLR Plus canti brake levers are great- double your braking power, and double your rim clearance. I have said it once, and will say it again: SLR Plus levers turn a bad brake into a decent one, a decent one into a good one, a good one into a great one, and a great one into an awesome one. They work well with V-Brakes, too, but can throw you over the bars. As long as its dry and there are no huge downhills, they can make a rollercam feel as powerful as a mechanical disc brake.


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## rasumichin (Oct 21, 2008)

Hi uphiller,
can you name an example for SLR Plus levers?
My M732s are SLRs and their predecessors M730 have the same (good) braking power.
So the effect must be in the plus. 
I'm so excited...
ciao, Alexander


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## outside! (Mar 15, 2006)

signalMTB said:


> Thanks to all for the responses. I've got a set of NOS Precision Billet v-brakes but the levers have eluded me. Those straitlines and Twenty6 levers were sweet, but I think they're just the actual lever replacement. I've got a line on a set of used Kookas, but a new set of Pauls is awfully tempting.


Why not keep an eye on eBay for some Precision Billet levers? I have some silver ones.


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## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

Technogen Tech-lite

https://images.google.com/imgres?im...ox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&um=1

JMJ


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## datasurfer (Nov 24, 2006)

I thought the tech-lites and the real's were for non-vee cantilever brakes. Are you folks running them with vee's successfully?


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## Bigfoot (Jan 16, 2004)

LOVE my Alteks! I have two bikes with them. One pair has been in constant use since '96...still look good, still work GREAT!

Bigfoot


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

"Hi uphiller,
can you name an example for SLR Plus levers?
My M732s are SLRs and their predecessors M730 have the same (good) braking power.
So the effect must be in the plus. 
I'm so excited...
ciao, Alexander"

Not sure about the numbers, but SLR Plus is what I mean. M730 had SLR- not SLR Plus.
I know XTR M900 had SLR Plus, and M910, along with maybe M737 integrated shifter-brake levers; the feature later trickled down to LX shifter-brake levers.


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## gmats (Apr 15, 2005)

How about Real levers?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330373379585


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## IF52 (Jan 10, 2004)

datasurfer said:


> I thought the tech-lites and the real's were for non-vee cantilever brakes. Are you folks running them with vee's successfully?


I have. There's a little plastic thing you slip in place to change the amount of cable pull which allows the brakes to work pretty well with V's. If you don't have the plastic spacer you're kind of out of luck me thinks.


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## byknuts (Aug 9, 2008)

alteks
box

no idea why those specific two, just because I FEEL them.
I like alteks so much I bought a SINGLE magura altek lever blade, threw it under the drill press and dremel and made it smoke and scream until it gave up and agreed to play nice with my hayes master cylinder.


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## paetersen (Jul 28, 2007)

uphiller said:


> All the SLR Plus canti brake levers are great- double your braking power, and double your rim clearance. I have said it once, and will say it again: SLR Plus levers turn a bad brake into a decent one, a decent one into a good one, a good one into a great one, and a great one into an awesome one. They work well with V-Brakes, too, but can throw you over the bars. As long as its dry and there are no huge downhills, they can make a rollercam feel as powerful as a mechanical disc brake.


Showing off my ignorance:
What are SLR and SLR plus levers?


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

SLR and SLR Plus are designations that Shimano applied to certain brake levers that they produced in the early to mid-90's. I am not sure what SLR stands for, but I do know it came first.
I also don't know what was special about SLR levers- to me they seem to be absolutely standard levers.
SLR Plus is something very special, though. If you look inside, or better, take apart an SLR Plus lever, you'll see that the barrel of the brake cable latches not directly into the brake lever, but into a carrier that attaches to the brake lever. It's kind of hard to explain the mechanism without pictures, but it the effect is pretty straightforward. 
Think of it like this- normally, you choose between getting very big rim clearance and bad braking power, or very low rim clearance but awesome braking power from your brake levers. There's an inverse relation between braking power and rim clearance. 
The SLR Plus lever solves that problem. When you start pulling an SLR Plus lever, the cable pull rate is something close to that of what a V-Brake lever has, ie, it pulls a lot of cable at first, ie it gets the pads to the rim very quickly, but with little force behind the pads. Then, when you pull farther, the leverage increases. Lots of braking power, lots of rim clearance. One of the best things Shimano ever made. It was used on XTR, XT and some LX integrated shifter-brakelevers.
The idea survived and was renamed Servo-Wave. Servo-Wave was the same thing, but was V-Brake compatible. It however had a slightly different execution that was inferior to the original version. 
Servo-Wave is also available on LX V-Brake levers, but executed without a single moving part, just a simple stationary angled wedge which alters the leverage ratio of the brake lever. (This idea was ripped off the Altek levers, incidentally.) The LX V-Brake lever is the most powerful V-Brake lever around, and when used with mechanical discs can give serious braking power.


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## IF52 (Jan 10, 2004)

Shimano Linear Response? or something like that.


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## robinmiller (May 31, 2005)

Jason B. said:


> When I hear "boutique brake levers" I don't think of Avid, I think of companies like Straitline or Twenty6.
> 
> http://www.straitlinecomponents.com/products/levers.php
> 
> http://www.twenty6products.com/products/


Umm.. you do know this is the VRC forum right? 

Avid was very much a boutique company back in the early '90s. It wasn't until later that they started producing midrange stuff and became the giant division of SRAM they are today.


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## signalMTB (Aug 17, 2007)

so for the PAUL owners (or previous owners) out there...I've read that without a spring back mech, they sometimes can feel sloppy. Are you guys seeing it in the NEW ones? And what's your opinions on the compacts versus 2.5? I'm not putting these on single speed, I'm using with XTR v-brakes


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## ysrchris (May 25, 2008)

I have another question about "Pauls". And just so I don't hijack this thread...My vote is for the Paul levers as well. 

I see alot of Paul levers and a couple also say that they used the Moto-lites but always return to some thing different...Why is this?
Chris


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## scooter916 (Jan 2, 2006)

I have some old machine tech levers, they are great, love the feel. and three position for the end of the cable to adjust power and modulation


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Normally I'd Bzzzzt ya but you only screwed up one part so I'll be polite this time.



uphiller said:


> SLR and SLR Plus are designations that Shimano applied to certain brake levers that they produced in the early to mid-90's. I am not sure what SLR stands for, but I do know it came first.


Shimano Linear Response, which was really the housing (it has teflon liners) and stainless cables (a reduction to a 1.6mm cable diameter from the previous 2.0 size standard). Because the barrel ends shrunk along with cables and housing, they made new SLR compatible levers (well new for late 80s). Essentially the brakes applied in a much smoother fashion without any grabbing/dragging feel as you pulled the levers.



> I also don't know what was special about SLR levers- to me they seem to be absolutely standard levers.


See above. Another change was the levers blades got shorter from the previous 4-finger monsters to a 2.5 finger size. The cable pull of the levers also increased (the old 4-fingers were around 18mm, the SLR levers 22mm) which meant a reduction in leverage, which wasn't actually a problem given with cantilevers, the yoke angle plays a big role in the total power and that could be easily changed.



> SLR Plus is something very special, though. If you look inside, or better, take apart an SLR Plus lever, you'll see that the barrel of the brake cable latches not directly into the brake lever, but into a carrier that attaches to the brake lever. It's kind of hard to explain the mechanism without pictures, but it the effect is pretty straightforward.


Actually SLR Plus included the new low-profile cantilever brakes as well as the new Servowave action brake levers. The Cam-carrier inside the levers is the servowave part, and 1991 lever bodies had a clear plastic window so you could watch the thing in action as you pulled the brake lever.



> The idea survived and was renamed Servo-Wave. Servo-Wave was the same thing, but was V-Brake compatible. It however had a slightly different execution that was inferior to the original version.


Ok...can't resist.... bzzzzzt wrong! But thanks for playing...

Servowave was always the name for the cam, from its debut it the 1990 Interbike show onwards.

On the XTR the barrel carrier slid in a long slot of the lever, and had a adjustment dial to limit how far it could slide (and thus change how far the leverage ramped up to and how much reduction in total cable pull occurred). On the XT levers it had the same slot in the lever blade but they employed a pair of half moon plastic spacers, which could be removed individually or both to activate the servowave function. The LX and DX lever versions however were not servowave though. They were simply a 3-position fixed leverage adjustment.

Today shimano has adapted their servowave technology to their top end (SLX, XT, XTR) hydraulic brake levers.


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

The LX and DX versions, whether they are labelled Servo-Wave or not, have a mechanism which causes the mechanical advantage of the brake lever to increase as you pull.
Whatever you call it, it has the same effect as the other mechanisms we described.
The XT and XTR V-Brake levers with Servo-Wave were in my view a disaster. The barrel carrier tended to make a notch at the top of the slot that it rode in. Then, when braking, you'd pull the lever and the carrier would get hung up at the top of the track, then abruptly drop down into max power position. A recipe for faceplants.
The first, tracked version was excellent, but had a fair amount of moving parts. The version used on the LX and DX levers was the best. No moving parts, and extremely powerful braking.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

I've got the red DX on my Catamount and the LX levers in a bin. The plastic spacer inside that they ripped from Altek (they used a beak cast as part of the lever blade) is meant to maintain the leverage at the same point regardless of where the lever blade position is. On practically every other brake lever, the leverage actually changes slightly because the cable slides into a slow in the lever blade and the angle it exits the lever clamp body changes. It comes down to the same sort of trig as with yokes and straddle cables. Shimano may have slapped a servo-wave decal on the levers, but it isn't actually how servo-wave works.


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## rigidftw (Mar 21, 2010)

hi, 
i'm new here. but not new to forums or vrc bikes.
brakelevers:
i ran bl-m733, should be slr, with 737 cantis, which worked good. good power and nice feel. then cut away the shifter mounts on st-m737s, slr plus, put them on the same bike with the same brakes and it didnt work good at all. terrible feel and bad power, so i put back on the normal slrs. before the 733 levers i ran paul love levers. imo the best canti levers in terms of brake feel. im running them now with m900 cantis on my etto and it works great. power is a little low in the front, but still ok.
now i'm running 732 cantis with suntour xc pro levers and some brake boosters on my commuter. the best canti setup i had so far. great feel, great power, relatively cheap, simple and robust but not boutique 

i'm also running paul love levers, older ones, with avid sd ultimate brakes on another bike. braking power is awesome, feel too, but i dont like the way the love levers feel in my fingers. they're pretty edgie and the lever itself is bent forwards a good 45° when not pulled. thats too much for me. i'd love to try those avid ultimates...

cheers


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## yo-Nate-y (Mar 5, 2009)

Real. Recently picked up a pair and I am really liking them. 

Not as boutique, but Dia Compe SS7s and SS5s are great too. And I really like the old XC Pros with grippy coated levers and nice knurled adjusters.


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## rigidftw (Mar 21, 2010)

yo-Nate-y said:


> And I really like the old XC Pros with grippy coated levers and nice knurled adjusters.


those are the ones i use with 732 cantis. nice.

and btw, i guess 739 brakes use servo wave too, right? they do work very good.


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## J_Westy (Jan 7, 2009)

crux said:


> +1 Vote for the old school Avid Ultimates.


I just flipped a set on ebay -- man they are beautiful -- real works of art! I probably should have kept them, but this darn '39 klunker is nickel-and-diming me


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## joeadnan (Oct 21, 2003)

I've have the Avid Ultimates for more than 10 years. Works great, and no slop in the pivots even after all these years. One of the levers are bent, unfortunately, though still functional.

Good job I have another NOS pair in black!


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

DeeEight said:


> Normally I'd Bzzzzt ya but you only screwed up one part so I'll be polite this time.
> 
> Shimano Linear Response, which was really the housing (it has teflon liners) and stainless cables (a reduction to a 1.6mm cable diameter from the previous 2.0 size standard). Because the barrel ends shrunk along with cables and housing, they made new SLR compatible levers (well new for late 80s). Essentially the brakes applied in a much smoother fashion without any grabbing/dragging feel as you pulled the levers.


Bzzzzzzt. SLR added a spring to the brake lever which was what the system was all about. But yes, they also had cable housing to go with the system.

Servowave basically did what the cam on a roller cam does but all inside the lever.


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## colker1 (Jan 6, 2004)

joeadnan said:


> I've have the Avid Ultimates for more than 10 years. Works great, and no slop in the pivots even after all these years. One of the levers are bent, unfortunately, though still functional.
> 
> Good job I have another NOS pair in black!


are those Paul's thumbies under the dura ace barcons? it looks different.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Wrong colour and wrong clamp design got paul's but there are several such adapters around.


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## joeadnan (Oct 21, 2003)

colker1 said:


> are those Paul's thumbies under the dura ace barcons? it looks different.


Nope, they were made by a company called Forge MTB out of the UK. See http://www.bikemagic.com/bike-reviews/forge-thumbshifters/3417.html

Don't think they still exist, or if they do, if they still make bike parts.


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## Max Hc (Aug 13, 2005)

Having tried Real´s, Kookas, Ultimates & Paul´s I would recommend Avid´s for they tuneability & the Kookas for they trick looking.

The Kookas are currently in the Clark Kent:


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## clockd (Aug 30, 2008)

signalMTB said:


> so for the PAUL owners (or previous owners) out there...I've read that without a spring back mech, they sometimes can feel sloppy. Are you guys seeing it in the NEW ones? And what's your opinions on the compacts versus 2.5? I'm not putting these on single speed, I'm using with XTR v-brakes


i have both new types, the 2.5 is a big lever that i'm using with gripshift and xtr v's. the compact is used with bb7's on my used long travel HT (non retro sorry). 
i'm not a big guy 5"8 and i prefer the compacts, because my hands are small. 
yes they develop slop but not as badly as avids (cheap ones) but they look cool.

in my opinion the shimano's have a nicer feel in general, even thou i have been anti shimano for most of my riding life


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## Birdman (Dec 31, 2003)

datasurfer said:


> I thought the tech-lites and the real's were for non-vee cantilever brakes. Are you folks running them with vee's successfully?


Technogen made a long-pull set for V-brakes before they went under.

JMJ


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