One finger brake setup

[jamied]

I've been mountain biking since the days before suspension forks were a common sight on the trails, when there were no disc brakes and you had to use a lot of fingers on the brake lever to be able to stop yourself.

I've never got myself out the habit of using 2 fingers to brake, but thought I'd give it a go to see if I can change the habit. I've run into a problem with my cockpit setup though, and I just can't manage to find a way to have the bake lever and shifter in a position where they are both accessible.

I have a sram NX shifter (the one with the integrated clamp so no position adjustment) and Magura MT5 brakes. If I put the brake lever nearest the grip in a good position for 1 finger braking and the shifter on the left then the shifter levers are too far away to be easily used. However if I put the shifter nearest the grip the shifter levers get in the way and is too close.

Weirdly on the left hand side where I have a shimano steps shifter, dropper level and brake I don't have so much of an issue as the steps shifters have longer levers on them.

Is there a way to resolve this without buying a new shifter with decent adjustment?

 

[simonk]

There are lots of solutions out there for combining clamps - WolfTooth, Problem Solvers are two that come to mind. I think Magura make their own to use with SRAM shifters (ShiftMix... I think it’s called).

 

[jamied]

There are lots of solutions out there for combining clamps - WolfTooth, Problem Solvers are two that come to mind. I think Magura make their own to use with SRAM shifters (ShiftMix... I think it’s called).

Thanks, I've not come across these before, looks like there is a WoolfTooth that is suitable, I'll still need to get a new shifter though so will probably upgrade to an X1 or GX.

 

[slippery pete]

Magura MT5 come with two finger levers as standard. For single finger braking you should look out for replacement HC levers. On the original levers, placement will be funky but the HC levers have always seemed pricey.

 

[jamied]

Magura MT5 come with two finger levers as standard. For single finger braking you should look out for replacement HC levers. On the original levers, placement will be funky but the HC levers have always seemed pricey.

The standard levers are listed as 1/2 finger in their setup guide for the price (£33 per side!) I think I'll wait to clean up my cockpit first and see how I get on with the original levers before I look at changing them.

I ended up ordering the magura shiftmix as it has tilt adjustment where as the wolf tooth looks like it only has side to side adjustment. It was hard to find anywhere that carried them but eventually found somewhere.

I also picked up a sram X1 shifter as I found some on sale for a decent price.