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I have a Merida Matts TFS 600 and it has steel brake levers. As I have been all my life used to a plastic levers, I utterly dislike the feeling of the steel.

I would like to know if is possible to get a pair of grips, that wrap the levers. If they are made from the same material, that would be optimal! I would not ask for anything more. I suppose that it is rubber, but I am not 100% sure.

If I am guessing correctly, the grips of my handlebar are these ones: http://www.veloplus.ee/en/product/grips-merida-tfs-grey-black-23729

Thank you in advance.

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  • Plastic levers are usually found on very low-end bikes. This is because at hard braking with 1 or 2 fingers, they flex and thus do not provide adequate feedback about the stopping force. Hence metal levers.
    – Vorac
    Sep 10, 2014 at 13:29
  • @Vorac it's worse than that on cheap v-brakes: The plastic bends so much the levers touch the grips without locking the wheel with recommended pad clearances and toe-in.
    – Chris H
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:10

1 Answer 1

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Grips will not wrap the brake levers.

You have several options:

  • Find a compatible brake lever which has plastic levers

  • Wrap the brake levers in something (a few layers of heat shrink tubing, plasti-dip, a bit of plastic/vinyl tubing like you get for refrigerator water hoses, brake lever covers (they exist for motorcycles, so I suspect you can find them for bicycles), etc.)

  • Live with the existing grips (metal levers aren't bad!)

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  • A single layer of heatshrink should do the trick. Or full-finger gloves, especially if the metal feels cold to the touch.
    – Chris H
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:11
  • +1 for PlastiDip since you can just peel it off if you don't like it. Also, truck bed liner since it adds a bit of texture.
    – Aaron
    Sep 10, 2014 at 16:45
  • @ChrisH: Cold is not a problem for me, I am a bit insensitive to temperatures. The problem is the smell and the tactic sensation of it.
    – sergiol
    Sep 10, 2014 at 22:39
  • UPDATE: For other reasons I went several times to some shops that sell heat shrink tube (electronic parts shops, bricolage, etc) and they seem to never have a tube with enough width. The last was an electronic components house, where I explained the purpose, and the seller said that it needed to be 12mm in original diameter, not in stock.
    – sergiol
    Nov 6, 2014 at 23:32
  • The variety pack I got from radioshack some years ago has heat shrink that is wide enough, so you may just need to look harder. You can also use some textured tape or something as well.
    – Batman
    Nov 7, 2014 at 0:01

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