Road bike hydraulic levers?!

[Meejoir]

It's a silly question but.....I'm considering converting my Kona MTB into a cross bike of sorts, if I was to fit some drop bars onto it, does anyone make drop bar levers that would be compatible with my Hayes Stroker hydraulic disc brakes? Does such a thing even exist?
I suppose I could just keep the current Deore shifters and existing levers on the tops and not bother with levers on the drops at all.

I'm just at the crazy thought stage on a boring Sunday night....

 

[bm0p700f]

Not yet bt they are coming. SRAM have red hydraulic shifter/lever prototypes in testing by various cyclocross racers. Formula are making prototypes with Di2 shifting for the C59 disc but that it. Nothin on general martket yet. You will have to use the Avid BB7 and normal STI shifters.

Levers and shifters on the top of drops will make riding difficult as you will want to be on the hoods but you cant. Also on the drops you will have no acess to the brakes. Don't do it.

 

[Meejoir]

Back in the day (ie the 1980s) my dad machined some fantastic homemade levers onto my bmx(which lasted for years), maybe I should bring the old man out've retirement to make me something compatible again! Could be an industry first right here on Retrobike!

 

[hamster]

Magura made some for their rim brake systems: HS66 & 77. They crop up on eBay from time to time. They are absolutely superb; I have had some on my tourer for the last 8 years.

 

[NeilM]

Take a look at this thread.

It won't answer your hydraulic lever question, but at least you will know your not the only one to put drops on an mtb.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94356

 

[David B]

Magura made some for their rim brake systems: HS66 & 77. They crop up on eBay from time to time. They are absolutely superb; I have had some on my tourer for the last 8 years.

^^^^^
What Hamster said. And if you're really lucky you can go for integrated controls should eBay ever turn up a set of Edco IGP hydro brake/shift levers (Sachs/Shimano 8sp. compatible IIRC). Warning: they are like hen's teeth and will probably cost you a mint.

David

 

[hamster]

Magura are going to do some hydraulic callipers, which again have a cable-operated master cylinder for compatibility with STI. Whether the master cylinder is the right size for rim brakes or discs I don't know...

 

[bm0p700f]

There is also the TRP parabox which coverts a cable input into a fluid out put to operate the calipers. Or use Avid BB7 cable operated calipers and a sealed cable set. The Avids are pretty good and that what I would do.

 

[David B]

There is also the TRP parabox which coverts a cable input into a fluid out put to operate the calipers.

Hope do a similar mech-to-hydro converter unit. Neither that nor the TRP one are especially cheap, though - £300 was the figure quoted when they first hit the market. I guess as interest grows and the idea trickles down the market such widgets will get cheaper.

Meanwhile I'm still racing on 27 year old Modolo cantilevers....

David

 

[willhouse]

There is a company in America does a conversion for cable actuated Formula R1's which I really like, but see below as it would just be for bling and too much performance...

http://324labs.com/324labs/Home.html

Personally I think hydraulic will be overkill though on disc's bigger than 140mm

Ive been running BB5 Avid Cable road disks for a sniff over 600 miles this last few weeks. I dropped the front rotor size from 185 to 160 as it was too powerful for me (obviously rider weight makes a difference too).

Whilst we are on the subject, anyone saying discs are nonsense need to open their mind. On a daily/trainer/commute bike they are the best thing ever. Great modulation, no rim wear, no brake grime in the wet, easier to set up correctly (note correctly in that setting rim brakes perfectly is a bit of a technique to have)...

That is all....

Also, I think TRP are soon to release a cable actuated hydraulic caliper. All the hydro bits are in the caliper as far as I am aware.