Are top-levers obsolete?

[Boeing]

Fewer and fewer on pro bikes.

with more and more disc and soon hydraulics, are they still viable?

 

[GODUCKS]

What ever happened to panache? Whipper snappers these days just plain dont get it. without a role model like ryan trebon or lance armstrong to set a good example, who will they follow? Top levers are the epitome of cross. without them, folks just ride around on road bikes getting dirty. stay true to pure cross. top levers and single speeds.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Fewer and fewer on pro bikes.

with more and more disc and soon hydraulics, are they still viable?

I raced without them for years and didn't notice a difference. Steep enough descents and the top-mounted levers are superior. Otherwise, they aren't critical. Another case where it just depends on the course.

With the industry moving onto hydraulic and discs, they will probably go away until there's full market saturation of hydraulic discs.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

CX top mount levers are used more in North America, hardly see any Euro CX pros using them. DirtyWorks is right, the adaptation of d-brakes for CX is eliminating their use as well.

 

[Boeing]

Not much braking at the pro level anyway; although top mount hydro would be sweet IMHO

 

[powerste]

Not much braking at the pro level anyway; although top mount hydro would be sweet IMHO

This! I'm waiting for SRAM to bring an inline lever that is triggered by a dual-control brake cable and in turn actuates a hydro disc. I don't race but run top-mounts and mech. discs on my town/trail CXer. Would love to go hydro with it.

 

[bc_hills]

I'm gonna put'em on my bike. The more I ride my cx bike like a suspension challenged mountain bike, the more I wish I had'em.

 

[Boeing]

question for the mechanic nerds: can you run them in line with drop levers and the avid bb7 cable disc caliper?