SRAM launches new brake levers for single speed bikes

• Friday, 16 July 2010
• Nick Rearden
• 1 Comments

Who'd have thought it? Brake levers that just brake.

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American components brand SRAM has announced new models 900 & 500 for single speed riders needing simple, old-school brake levers.

The growing market for minimalist single speed road bikes has been accompanied by an even bigger one for multi-geared machines with wonderfully sophisticated shift levers built into the brake levers.

Which has resulted in a dearth of straightforward non-gear-shifting brake levers which American brand SRAM hope to fill with their new 900 and 500 models.

Agreed, a fair number of aficionados of single speed are collectors of 'heritage' components from the likes of Campagnolo and Dia-Compe and there's thankfully a smaller number who controversially risk life and limb by riding track-style fixed on the road with no brakes at all, thereby making brake levers redundant.

Nevertheless, SRAM has presumably deemed the potential for new sales good enough to launch not one but two variants on the theme.

Model 900 (above right) has a composite body and a unidirectional carbon-fibre lever, weighing in at 244 grams for the pair.

Model 500 (below) has alloy levers and will presumably be cheaper although we don't as yet have pricing or shipping dates.