Help, converting road bike to flat bars,

sm500

Retro Guru
Have an old touring bike on drop bars, and have been wanting to convert it to flat bars for ages, its running a tripple lx chainset on the front, its on rd brake callipers, when i convert it to flat bars what brake levers do i use to work with the callipers? can i use some old mtb xt brake levers? Ta
 
If they are canti levers they should be fine. V levers pull lots of cable but you will need hands like a gorilla to get ordinary callipers to work.
 
What stem is it? Different stems have different diameter "hole" to push the bars through.

V-brake levers pull too much cable for there to be any modulation with road calipers. Try it if you want. But we did warn you.
 
Probably not old enough for your liking, but I have some Avid levers on mine and they're fine, as they have a lot of adjustment built in and I've turned them down to pull the least cable possible.
 
sm500":7rd0s477 said:
Thanks for replies, question why cant i use v brake levers on the caliper
brakes? cheers

V brakes pull twice as much cable as a calliper.

What's important is Force x Distance. However, as you require half the distance you need twice the force (cable tension). This means that V levers just don't have the leverage.

The Avids with the speed dial are a great suggestion, as you can dial down the travel to make the force less.

Conversely, getting V's to work with normal levers is OK, but as you don't have the cable pull you have to set the pads very, very close to the rim.
 
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