Tektro r559 brakes - compatible drop levers ?

[hoogerbooger]

I've just tried some retrogression on a bike, back to friction shifters and non-integrated levers:

I couldn't get all 3 front rings to work with the integrated levers..... but now all gears work and trimming removes any chain-rub..............so that's a positive............but the cable pull on the old Weinman levers is obviously shorter than on the Shimano 7 Speed integrated shifters. This is a shame as the modulation and stopping power was pretty good on the Tektro R559 brakes before with the integrated levers......but now it's a rather solid stodgy hard pull.....which my Missus will hate with her arthritic thumb/hands.....and will be poor at stopping for her.

The Missus also finds these integrated levers difficult to use ( too much hand twisting to change gear) so wondering what the drop brake lever options are. I'm presuming that all 1980's drop levers will have the same short pull ? Any suggestions on any ( pref silver trad looking) levers that have a somewhat longer longer pull ...but not too long?

( just been googling to try and work out what the cable pull was on the old Shimano 7 speed integrated levers is.... but not found so far....so if anyone knows ? .......as we know that works well)

( I could I guess get some old Weinmann centrepulls, but they'd have to be the longer arm version, which I believe are not good stoppers ?)

[Jdsk]

20220720_141610.jpg (42.41 KiB) Viewed 2334 times

[colin54]

Tektro RL340 or RL341 (shorter reach for a smaller hand), I had these on a similar 7 speed era bike originally fitted with Shimano dual pivot brakes - replaced Shimano combined brake and gear levers RSX ST-A410. They had the same lever feel.
https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=72
£17 a pair plus post from e.g. Spa Cycles

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m7b82s103p2 ... ake-Levers

[hoogerbooger]

Thanks.

Short reach option looks useful, although the Missus nearly always brakes from the hoods...... and if the lever veers towards the drops quicker....then maybe it's less useful ! Might have a chat with Spa.
.

[531colin]

Here (from too good to lose) there is a lot of stuff about mechanical advantage for all kinds of brakes and levers viewtopic.php?t=63112&start=45
What levers are those on the Bob Jackson mixte?
I use Vee brakes, so I'm not really up to speed with all the various cable pulls etc. but I think the general rule is stuff for dual pivots is Shimano NSSLR (new shimano linear response, or some such acronym....have I got an extra "S"?)....so really old (non-aero) levers should pull too little cable for dual pivots, so braking should be fierce and spongy .....which it isn't......so whats going on?

[slowster]

I've pasted below Brucey's post from viewtopic.php?p=1538015#p1538015 in its entirety for the sake of completeness and to avoid confusion. See in particular the final paragraph.

In a nutshell:

a) SLR - levers spring return assisted, lever MA ~4:1. For Shimano single pivot calipers (not DPs).
b) Super SLR - For first generation DP calipers. Variable lever MA with an average of ~3.5:1. All shimano STIs (and DP calipers) prior to 2008.
c) New Super SLR (NSSLR) - For second generation DP calipers. Lever MA ~3:1. All new shimano STI models launched 2008- (except for 2300)
d) SLR EV - Slightly different calipers (with slightly higher caliper MA) and slight changes to levers. Uses about the same lever MA as NSSLR.

Some useful links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano

gives launch dates of shimano groupsets, so is useful for quickly discriminating between b) and c) type brake systems

https://productinfo.shimano.com/#/com

for compatibility. Click the link at the top of the page for older (2004-2020) compatibility information.

To the above I'd add the following comments:

Needless to say matched sets of brake calipers and levers give the best performance, but b) type levers work reasonably well with a) type calipers, a) type levers work non-ideally with type b) calipers (high power but must use much reduced running clearance) and any combination of c) and d) will work reasonably well. Obviously caliper brake MA varies with where the brake blocks are in the slots; high = high caliper MA, low = low caliper MA.

Of particular relevance to most UK cyclists (with mudguard clearances) is that Shimano recommend c)/d) type levers with deeper drop (47-57mm) BR-R650 /BR-R450/BR-R451 calipers (which are b) type) but say that setup gives 'reduced power' (dotted line on compatibility chart). This is certainly the case if you need these calipers (i.e. you need a brake drop between 52 and 57mm). Shimano don't bother making a decent brake caliper with more than ~52mm brake drop which works correctly with any new model lever/STI they have launched since 2008 (not 2300).

If you want to use type c) or type d) STIs with deep drop brakes then one of the few calipers which has a decent drop and a decent MA is Tektro R559 (55-73mm) . These were described as 'using the new lever pull' (meaning NSSLR compatible) when they were first launched but this comment appears since to have been removed from Tektro's website. These calipers work well with NSSLR levers provided the brake blocks in the top half of the slot (55-64mm). With the brake blocks in the bottom half of the slot (64-73mm), you might be better off with older brake levers ( e.g. type b) ) .
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[531colin]

Slowster, is that stuff in "too good to lose"?
I think the stuff I linked is only there because I linked it here viewtopic.php?t=57410&start=30
My head is reeling now, i'm too bloody old for this!

[Jamesh]

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-r400-b ... lsrc=aw.ds

These any good?

[slowster]

Slowster, is that stuff in "too good to lose"?

No it isn't. I think that useful information concerning SLR, SSLR and NSSLR cable pulls, and in particular Brucey's posts, are not confined to one definitive thread. The thread to which I linked just happened to be one where Brucey specifically commented on the R559 calipers.

It was the same with Brucey's posts about Shimano hub and freehub bearing set-up and lubrication - there was no single definitive thread, so I pasted links to all/most of them in a single post in one thread, which was then put in Too Good Too Lose. I am sceptical that it would be worthwhile attempting to do the same with threads about the different cable pulls, because the search function was more than adequate: Brucey's post was the first of only two results from searching on "R559 SLR".

My head is reeling now, i'm too bloody old for this!

When I see threads like this, I usually take the view that someone else will be along soon enough with a good answer, so I don't bother to post, at least not until the thread has run for a while.

[foxyrider]

how about getting some appropriate Tektro levers - when i damaged one of my old Shimano EX500 levers a couple of years back i did that for not much dosh - they have all sorts of options available, i won;t even try to offer exact part numbers but a quick search will turn up the right things - then you have to source them!

[NickJP]

I have the 556/559 brakes on three bikes - the 556 is the older version of the 559 - the only difference between them is that the 559 has a lock on the QR lever. One bike is using Shimano BL-R400 brake levers, another is using Campagnolo Record brake levers - these are basically their 10-speed Ergo levers with the shifting internals gutted so that it's only a brake lever, and the third bike is using SRAM Force double-tap integrated brake/shift levers. The braking is fine with all three levers.

My personal preference are the Campagnolo levers, as there is a quick release in the lever. Using that together with the QR on the brake caliper gives enough clearance to drop a fat tyre out past the brake blocks without needing to deflate it - I'm using 42mm tyres. On the other bikes without the QR in the lever, I have to let some air out of the tyres so that they can be squeezed past the brake blocks when removing a wheel.

[colin54]

https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=45
Tektro show four lever options at the foot of the R559 brake page on their website, RL340 being one of them (the only drop bar lever),
but I note they don't include the small hand RL341 in the list for some reason. The RL341 does not have it's own page and illustration in the Tektro catalogue either that I can find. Perhaps it's meant to be taken as read that it is functionally the same as the RL340 regarding it's applications.
https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=72

However I see from the the RL340/RL341 lever page that the R559 brake is shown as an option for those levers at the foot of the page.
I used the smaller hand version on the bike I mentioned in my earlier post.
They are nice light levers to use and are shaped out a bit to the sides, making them easier to use from the hoods.
A couple of pictures of both to illustrate, short reach RL341 on the right.

[hamster]

I have the 556/559 brakes on three bikes - the 556 is the older version of the 559 - the only difference between them is that the 559 has a lock on the QR lever. One bike is using Shimano BL-R400 brake levers, another is using Campagnolo Record brake levers - these are basically their 10-speed Ergo levers with the shifting internals gutted so that it's only a brake lever, and the third bike is using SRAM Force double-tap integrated brake/shift levers. The braking is fine with all three levers.

My personal preference are the Campagnolo levers, as there is a quick release in the lever. Using that together with the QR on the brake caliper gives enough clearance to drop a fat tyre out past the brake blocks without needing to deflate it - I'm using 42mm tyres. On the other bikes without the QR in the lever, I have to let some air out of the tyres so that they can be squeezed past the brake blocks when removing a wheel.

I'll second Nick's point. They work very well with Campag levers.
Shimano has fiddled around with road cable pull so many times, it's a total mess. I think you have to avoid the NSSLR type and try SLR.

[hoogerbooger]

Many thanks all. I now have the advice and options sought.

(I'm feeling a little chastened on my searching failures. So extra thanks for the patience.

I looked at the Tektro page on my phone, which doesn't have the lever options at the bottom of the page or any mention in the fitting instruction pdf. But on the PC the lever options show...but not the short reach version. Would be nice if the page for the brakes and the levers indicated the actual cable pull/convention.

Annoyingly I didn't search the forum on the R559's: Doh !

So, many thanks for pointing me in direction. Pictures of the two reaches on the Tektro levers, really helpful. The Missus is getting pretty fed up with the arthritic hands, so we'll be trying all options available on her bikes. ( Next will be testing if old Shimano thumb shifters are better than the rapid fire on her flat bar 8 speed MTB tourer.....used as more of a palm/hand change)

[Ross K]

Shimano 600 levers with R559 brakes is a superb combination, they've stopped me extremely effectively for many years, along with koolstop salmon pads.

Plenty of NOS or good used ones about.