Weinmann brake levers

[Ian Raleigh]

I think to fit these levers, you're meant to drill the bars. Not something I'd be comfortable in doing or riding

I drilled some cinelli bars in the mid 80's and never had a problem with them collapsing, still going strong.

 

[AngieMc]

I think to fit these levers, you're meant to drill the bars. A hole where the lever is to thread the cable into the bars and another hole near the stem for the cable to exit the bars (each side of course).
Not something I'd be comfortable in doing or riding

Really? That sounds so bizarre and definitely not something I'd be comfortable with either. I thought that the Dawes bar I bought would be suitable for these levers as the bar has a recess along from where the levers would be to slot in the cable. Definitely sticking with the non-aero. In fact, I have been looking at levers on eBay and many don't say if they are aero or not (the ones I bought didn't) so you have to look at the photos. I presume the sellers presume we know what we are looking for (we do, once we've made a costly mistake first).

 

[pigman]

Back in the day before hidden cables were invented, it was a thing for some time trialers to force the cable through the housing of a standard lever and drill the bars to accommodate the cable. Braking would have been compromised, but as the bikes were solely used for flat TTs, it didn't matter too much - the pursuit of aerodynamics and weight reduction was the objective.
Then came this idea. A proper lever that was designed for concealed cables, but they hadn't yet thought of hiding the cables beneath the bartape, so it still necessitated drilling the bars

 

[jim haseltine]

The levers in this video look to be similar to the ones you're trying to fit.

 

[pigman]

The levers in this video look to be similar to the ones you're trying to fit.

Not really. For one, the OP's don't look to have cutouts in the lever body to let the cable escape onto the top of the bars, and secondly the ones in the video have black levers, the OP's look silver

 

[jim haseltine]

Looks very much to me that there's a cutout.
The levers look to be those for the short-lived Weinmann/Dia Compe delta brakes - the issue with the cables was that the original Weinmann/GB/Altenburger metal bodies weren't subject to a major redesign for aero cables, they were just slightly modified to allow a cable exit at the rear which resulted in a considerable bulge under tape at the lever hood/bar interface. Dia Compe later produced an updated design with a plastic body which were available with silver, white or black levers.