Kirke,
Most Weinmann brake levers from the late 60s and early 70s didn't have the quick release feature in the levers. I had Weinmann brakes on a Bridgestone bike in Japan back in 1964 with standard levers. They didn't change much over the years.
I remember using some "quick release" levers with Weinmann 500 side pull brakes on a time trial bike and also a beater bike in the mid 70s. They were some of the lightest brakes available at the time. They were also cheap and stopped reasonably well.
I recall seeing the Weinmann levers with the slots milled in them on Raleigh Competition bikes for a few years in the mid 1970s. They had white plastic hoods that said Carlton on them. They may have been used on some Raleigh Internationals too during those years.
In the levers you have pictured, it looks like someone cut away part of the hoods to fit "suicide levers", "safety levers", brake extension levers or whatever you want to call them.
There's a number of different Weinmann brake levers pictured on the VeloBase website.
There are 2 different styles shown in this link, with hoods and quick releases in the levers and without either.
-----Original Message----- From: Kirke Campbell Sent: Tue, Jul 21, 2009 9:16 pm Subject: [CR] Dating Weinmann Brake Levers
Weinmann seems to have a few variations of levers for their Vainqueur brakesets throughout the years. I am not familiar with these brakes and could not find a good answer in the archives. The version I see most often is this, with the quick releases and the textured "dots" all down the lever body:
http://images.andale.com/
Then there are these, which are the same except that they appear to
have been milled:
http://thebikestand.com/
Does this milling denote anything as far as time period? Are there any other ways to pinpoint the date of a Weinmann brake lever? Or perhaps the design remained relatively unchanged?
To be more precise, the period of the bike I am looking to put Weinmann levers on is early 1970s. If anyone has suggestions on what to look out for, please let me know.
Thanks,
Kirke Campbell
Houston, TX USA