Are the Avid Ultimate levers I link here for V's or Canti's?

[suburbanreuben]

I was chatting to my local bike shop owner last week who knows his retro stuff. He stated (against what I believed) that v brake levers can operate either cantilever brakes or v brakes happily.
Apparently you cannot use canti brake levers with v brakes as the amount of cable taken up does not offer sufficient braking power on the rim.

Wrong! :shock:

Canti' levers will work with V's, but they'll feel horribly spongy, until the pads wear down and you run out of adjustment; then they won't work all...

...try to work canti's with V levers and the brakes are either off, or full on with no modulation; grab a handfull of brake and you'll be straight over the bars!

Wrong! :shock:

V brake levers make canti's useless, unless they have a high power setting, but even that is rarely enough to make them work nicely.

Canti brake levers on V-brakes offer more power but don't pull enough cable to set the pads far enough away from the rim to avoid rubbing, the lever will be spongy due to everything flexing under the increased power.

A canti brake lever pulls less cable with a higher mechanical advantage.

A V-brake lever pulls more cable with a lower mechanical advantage.

We have a winner! Someone who knows their arse from their elbow!
Are you an engineer Sir?

 

[gtRTSdh]

We have a winner! Someone who knows their arse from their elbow!
Are you an engineer Sir?

yes.

 

[Alison]

Although I know they should not work, my hubby has run canti's with V brake levers on his work bike for years with no braking problems at all.

Alison

 

[ibbz]

all good. But these particular levers here work with v brakes is all that'll need to be clarified by me anyway . Happy they do so will see how the eBay auction gets on.

 

[Augustus]

What Mike D said.

I have used these on Arch Supreme V's and Ultimate V's and they do work, but are v spongy compared to the Ultimate V lever (stockier shape) which also look nicer IMO. Although beautiful, still dont work as well as XTR levers.

 

[MikeD]

That's what I'd expect, but according to FMJ the range of cable pull is the same. I mean, it seems a little unlikely, but it was a definitive answer

 

[shinobi]

I had some like that bitd and they were for cantis but when i switched to vs i bought some special cable holders designed to move the pivot point . I still have one std and one v adaptor one kicking around in my tool box i think .

 

[We_are_Stevo]

We have a winner! Someone who knows their arse from their elbow!
Are you an engineer Sir?

yes.

Well, one of you just rehashed what I put in my reply...

...and the other is welcome to give a demonstration and post the results on Youtube!

 

[gtRTSdh]

We have a winner! Someone who knows their arse from their elbow!
Are you an engineer Sir?

yes.

Well, one of you just rehashed what I put in my reply...

...and the other is welcome to give a demonstration and post the results on Youtube!

Perhaps you had a dyslexic moment, but you stated it the wrong way around.

 

[mkaavin]

I was chatting to my local bike shop owner last week who knows his retro stuff. He stated (against what I believed) that v brake levers can operate either cantilever brakes or v brakes happily.
Apparently you cannot use canti brake levers with v brakes as the amount of cable taken up does not offer sufficient braking power on the rim.

I think you should trust your own judgment and not you local bicycle shop owner on this one......