Integrated shifter pods for cantilever brakes

[Stormylolol]

Hi all,

Just wondering what you might suggest as for good value MTB style brifters to pair with cantilever brakes on my touring bike.

I have a set of ST-MC18s which I am quite fond of, and have used with cantis previously without much issue (from what I remember), but am wondering if there is anything better suited for this combination? I believe they are designed for V-brakes so have the pull-ratio issue.

Obviously I could go down the separate shifter/lever route which would be fine too but I believe my local bike co-op does not stock second hand lever parts or shifters!

Kind regards

 

[Tsundere]

Just my opinion - Brifters, especially cheap or well used ones can be less reliable than levers paired with thumb shifters. For a start if anything on a brifter fails, both the brake lever and shifter will need replacing.

For touring, where reliability and practicality trumps everything else, I'd go for a decent pair of brake levers and thumbies, preferably with friction shifting.

You should find both on here for a fair price if you post in the wanted section.

 

[Stormylolol]

Just my opinion - Brifters, especially cheap or well used ones can be less reliable than levers paired with thumb shifters. For a start if anything on a brifter fails, both the brake lever and shifter will need replacing.

For touring, where reliability and practicality trumps everything else, I'd go for a decent pair of brake levers and thumbies, preferably with friction shifting.

You should find both on here for a fair price if you post in the wanted section.

Thank you for your insight! It has given me some food for thought. I think I may keep the bike on downtube friction shifters and see if I have a pair of standalone levers which will work anywhere. I think I have an odd XT and servo wave duo but not sure if they will work for cantis with a bit of adjustment to the H/L screw.
The only canti levers I have are día Compe ss5 which I got for a fiver from my local bicycle co-op but they seem to be rather extortionate on the bay.

I agree that the more affordable brifters are not always confidence inspiring, but at the same time I don’t think I’ve ever actually had one go from working to not working, apart from one acera set i broke after I went over the handlebars down a steep hill. In the same way I have not had any issue with doing long distance on the aforementioned MC18s or early 105 brifters. Granted I’m not going anywhere massively off the beaten track - mostly Europe so it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if anything were to happen! Whilst doing the outer Hebrides I was with a friend and we got up to Lewis I think it was when his FD broke and he was stuck in the big ring the whole time not sure how he managed to cope with that but hey Ho

I do have a pair of bar end shifters kicking about in a box somewhere but we never fully got on together. They’d also be a bit odd on H bars I think.
Will reconsider the thumbies further down the line