My friend Megan had a silly little get off on her new bike a while back. She tossed her bike off a bridge in China Camp. No real harm to her or the bike other than an issue in her brake lever. Somehow, the lever rod got messed up. Jammed and stripped. Don’t ask me how, that’s what I was told.
She took it to a shop and was sold a whole new lever assembly. I found this silly but I helped her mount the new unit and kept the old one for my stash. It’s basically a good lever, just needs a small part. I wondered why the shop would choose to solve the problem with a full lever assembly and not just a blade. I finally got around to looking at the part. I took it apart. It looked like a simple lever swap for a new rod.
…then I looked up the part number for the Level TL lever blade, 11.5018.003.018
QBP doesn’t have it and nobody in the aftermarket has it.
…then I looked up the other numbers for the Level lever blades, 11.5018.003.017 (TLM), 11.5018.003.016 (Ultimate). Nothing turns up.
Wow. What could be a fairly inexpensive fix of a consumable in the $18 range turns into something in the $82 range with parts that have to be ordered directly from SRAM if they are available at all.
SRAM Guide and DB5 masters and lever blades are fully supported, just not Level.
Even the complete Level lever unit isn’t available in QBP, 11.5018.004.034 (TL) or the TLM or Ultimate lever assembly.
I figure that the DB5 lever assembly is a usable part in this case, in an emergency:
11.5018.004.022 (DB5) Complete Unit ($66)
11.5018.003.008 (DB5) Lever Blade ($17.16)
