I've got r200's on both of my drop bar bikes and I love them. I can't imagine running anything else, considering my lifelong permanent hatred of brifters.

200's are the bigger ones.

I just don't like the idea of putting something that expensive right where I'm going to break it. I've also been kind of burned by them because my wife has broken 2 right side levers in two consecutive tumbles. I would rebuild them, but I only run Shimano stuff and Shimano levers aren't rebuildable.

Any time I run gears, I run bar end shifters. I can shift quickly enough with those, and it's nice to have the friction option on the front anyways.

Goooood levers. Only chumps shell out for the Cane Creeks (which have that annoying raised pattern anyways.)

<3

It would be rad to be able to get hoods for these levers in colours other than gum and black.

I don't have the levers, due to running 105 STI's on the Nishiki, but I have the long-reach breaks set up on it. Turns out, the early '80s Nishiki Custom Sport wasn't built for 27", but 700c plus fenders. So, when building it back up, had to order long-reach brakes, got the Tektro R556's. I think they're the shit, especially on a Randonneuring setup. They're pretty beefy and get the job done quick, and look pretty slick too.

One thing in particular that's cool is if you don't have rear rack mounts on your seat stays, the rear brake bolt is long enough to get a rack that bolts to that and your fender eyelets instead. Waiting on that to come in right now.

thanks for the review. I may end up grabbing a pair of these for the PDG.

Do it or I will kill you.

You are welcome, loon, and if you do not purchase a pair for said PDG, I will laugh maniacally while ckd kills you.

You will die by my hands.

MWAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Got these (partly/mostly due to this thread) and yeah, awesome.

Anyone know offhand if those levers take campy or shimano cable heads?

Also, it looks like you can fit the cane creek gum hoods over the tektro's. Is that correct?

Shimano ends and you probably can.

is there such thing as the worlds nicest threaded quill stem shifters?

i just googled custom biek stem shifter but all i got was this b-a parlee. maybe ask sol or someshit

can we ban this thing yet?

Are the heads of brake cables any different between campy and shimano? I thought that only the shifter cables were different. Anyways I've run mine with regular shimano type brake cables which fit perfectly, and also bodged in mountain bike type cables that have the different shaped pip on the end. This did not fit so perfectly, but it worked fine.

You definitely can install cane creek hoods on tektro levers, I've done it myself. They're identically shaped products.

I retaped the bars of a regular at the shop who we call "Commuter Tom" once and noticed that he had a shifter cable installed in one of his tektro levers... kinda jackass, but it worked I guess. His right lever had evidently been loose for quite some time and had scooted a good inch and a half lower than his left. I fixed this, asked him about it, and it was like he hadn't even noticed it. Interesting fellow.

Anyways, Campy and Shimano cable ends are different, but only slightly:

The campy end is on the left. Slightly smaller in diameter and a little shorter. I think I've run both in the course of cabling the three sets of these levers on the Trek, Scheleste Schwinn, and Misfit. According to this blog post there can be trouble fitting the larger Shimano end in some Campy levers, but it's nothing a little grinding can't cure.

Thanks for the side-by-side. I was starting to think i was mixed up for thinking they were different. I've used only Campy for about 10 years, and I had completely forgotten if/how the Shimano heads were different.

On a vaguely-related note, has anyone tried using "hudz" designed for Campy 10 ergo on the Cane Creek or Tektro Clone Levers? As Mander mentioned above, a few more color options could be fun.