Bob Hanson wrote:
> Does anyone remember just when it was that "safety Levers" became
> popular on (or should I say, began to plague) so many bikes in the US?
>
> Seems to me that it must have been a lure to get inexperienced American
> riders to begin feeling comfortable on Road bikes. During the great
> American Bike Boom of the early 70s, affordable imported "lightweight"
> road bikes were suddenly becoming regarded as attractive and desirable
> by a much broader spectrum of the public. On one occasion, even my dad,
> who'd only ridden before on balloon-tired cruisers (during his younger
> days), actually took one of my racing bikes out for a brief spin. But,
> because braking from the hoods was not very effective back then, his
> only comment was "That damn thing was absolutely terrible to try to
> stop."
>
> Of course, Racer-Boy types, like myself, considered being seen riding a
> bike with safety levers about as embarrassing as being caught riding a
> "Girls" bike would have been.
>
> But, Schwinn was putting the levers on almost EVERYTHING that had
> dropped bars. Their Weinmann version is even proudly displayed on the
> P15-9 "Deluxe Paramount" (touring) bike in my 1971 catalog (and listed
> as a standard feature)... and, yes, they certainly do make even that
> bike look like garbage.
>
> Anyone who had seen the less common Mafac safety levers may remember
> that those could actually still use the standard rubber half-hoods...
> other brands had to leave their levers with just naked metal. I'm so
> glad that all of those levers are now just an ugly footnote in cycling
> history.
>
> Bob Hanson,
> riding with no safety,
> in Albuquerque, New Mexico
>
>
IIRC and this may be one of the bicycling myths.
Weinmann and Dia-Compe entered a cross licensing agreement that allowed Weinmann the use of the Dia-Compe safety lever design in exchange for the use of the Vainqueur 999 brake design (AFAIK still available from Dia-Compe).
Dia-Compe hoods that fit the Weinmann style levers had a round removable circle on the sides to enable the use of them with the safety lever pivot. I don't know if Weinmann produced similar hoods for their own production.
Marcus Coles
London, Ontario, Canada.