Why bother with a chain brake at all? Most of these saws are used with one hand, in which case the brake is useless. I have removed all the brake mechanism from my small fleet of Minis (saves some weight), except for one that I loan out and for it I cut off most of the brake handle and just left about 6" of it, thinking it would make the user feel a little safer. These little saws have the biggest, ugliest handle I've ever seen.