Levers - any actual benefit of upgrading?

[ThePass]

I've been drooling over ASV, CRG, and Pazzo levers from a purely cosmetic standpoint, but I'm curious to know if they are supposed to actually provide any sort of improvement in feel or anything. It seems like on most track bikes I see you can almost guarantee that the levers and rearsets aren't stock so this makes me wonder what they know that I don't. I'd assume getting the shorties would be nice so that you don't scratch them if you happen to go down... but is there any other reason for them?
-Ryan

[F4sSprintST]

I would say YES

The Pazzo's feel much better than my stockers, and I liked the adjusters better. They fit the hand better, lighter and stronger so give a little better feel. I think they return faster, since they are lighter and stronger

and they look so sweet.........

[harleyxlc]

+1 For my small hands, the shorty levers are great. Also, more adjustable than stock (some that aren't adjustable at all).

[Ca$h]

Yea they look and feel amazing.
Quick snap to its original position, and a better feel.
Add that to SS brake lines and new pads...

[ThePass]

Any difference between the rolling wheel for adjustments on the ASV's vs the lever adjuster on the Pazzo's?

-Ryan

[kevin_stevens]

No, they're bling. Stronger - like you're strong enough to bend a stock aluminum lever? Spend $150 on shorty levers so you don't risk scratching a stock lever that costs $10 to replace? Spend money on them if you like, but from any objective functional perspective, there's no difference.

KeS

Caveat - if the levers offer an adjustment in the brake actuating lever, they *can* give you a shorter throw before engagement. This is not the same thing as the common lever distance adjustment. Be extremely careful if your levers have this feature, it is quite possible to misadjust such that your brakes will lock without activation or control if you block the reservoir access port.

[ThePass]

Interesting info Kevin_stevens. Thanks.
Ok, I remember reading in a motorcycle magazine about swapping levers and getting stronger braking power i.e. less pressure needed on the lever to stop. Clearly the levers I've been asking about wouldn't effect this, but I seem to recall seeing some brake levers that had some sort of their own fluid reservoir or whatnot as well, I think maybe from Brembo? Would this be more of a worthwhile mod?

I'm not usually the type to have to upgrade things just to get that placebo effect and tell myself it's better, but I come from a mountain biking background where we'll spend just as much on our braking systems as guys do on their motorcycle's brakes to get them just right because that's the number one most crucial system on the bike, so if I can find something that reduces the effort needed in the lever and gives better feedback etc. I'd be all over it.

-Ryan

[kevin_stevens]

In braking stuff, it's pretty much a direct tradeoff between travel distance and squeeze force; you can have a long travel with lighter feel, or a very short hard travel with a stronger force needed. These are more typically affected by changing the master cylinders, though - it's the ratio between the wheel cylinder piston area and the MC area that controls the leverage, and the overall stroke length of the MC that affects the total fluid displacement.

MCs can be pricey to play around with, though; one of the more common things is to identify common applications that provide greater or less leverage - like using a later R1 MC on an earlier R6 (that's just an example, don't know if that particular swap is common or not).

The levers themselves don't have much to do with any of this though; they're just more or less expensive sticks to pull on. There are compound action levers (like bolt cutters), but those are *really* exotic bits for special purposes. I haven't heard of the separate reservoir levers you're speaking of, and don't really know how that would work. I'd be interested in seeing the info on that.

KeS

[Gimpdiggity]

I agree with everything that KeS has said in this thread.

I think that the majority of people upgrading to those expensive levers have done a great deal of "convincing" themselves that they are actually working out better.