Customer Reviews

Tektro 316AG BMX Mini Brake Lever Pair Black/Silver

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I bought these levers as an experiment for a straight-bar hybrid I built using an old retro late-80's CrMo steel cyclo-cross frame/fork. The old levers I had were cheap plastic combo brake/shifters from Shimano. These were full sized, and even though I have large hands, on long downhill sections of fire-trails, my hands would cramp up keeping levers partly squeezed for several minutes at a time. These levers have turned out to be excellent replacements and a perfect match with the today's V-brakes (aka Linear Pull Brakes).

They require only 2 fingers and extend out enough to work with thumb shifters and grip-shifters. The stand-off distance (i.e. fully open width from center of handlebar to outside of the lever at the closest indentation - where your index finger would be) is 58mm. This is 10 mm smaller than the kids mtb lever on my son's bike (68mm) and 14mm shorter than some old Shimano combo mtb brake/shift levers (72mm). Also, the lever length from center of pivot to the lever tip is just 79mm. It's almost 130mm for full sized levers, and my son's bike has 100 mm pivot length.

Construction is all metal, and the brake cable tension adjuster barrels are decent quality and hold their settings on fairly long, bumpy rides. There are two drill-outs for brake-cable end attachment - one for linear pull, and one with more torque but shorter travel for older conventional brakes. The diameter of the clamp looks designed for 21.8 - 22.5 mm (7/8") OD handle bars. Standard 5mm allen wrench installs and removes this lever. This fits BMX bars, and most straight MTB bars with 25.4mm clamp at the stem. It fits my existing flat bars and 5 deg. swept 1 inch riser mtb bars.

Levers are spring-loaded with a small amount of return force, but it's barely noticeable. They weigh 81 grams each, and yes, they come as a pair with specific left and right levers (screws and bolts on the underside), and include instructions. Note, you will need to remove any bar ends and grips and possibly shifters on your handlebar to put these in. If you have existing MTB levers, it may be possible to align the tension adjuster barrels and disengage the brake cable without removing the brake cable, and slide this lever in as a direct replacement (if the brake cable head is the same). However, changing levers is a good chance to inspect the brake cable, then replace and relube the cable inside the housing if necessary. Note also, you may want to adjust your brake gap because the lever travel with shorter levers is likely reduced, so brake pads might need to be closer to the rim to assure you will fully stop before bottoming out the lever. As a consequence, if the pads are closer, the rims might rub if they are out of true. I didn't have any such issues, but then again, I build and maintain my own wheels.

Niagara Cycle Works isn't always the cheapest place for these levers unless you're combining shipping and ordering a bunch of stuff. Then they are. Amazon is a great place to shop for their stuff as well. I plan to stock a few sets of these levers for a flat-bar single-speed/fixies my friends ask me to assemble for them.