V brake levers

[Bensherman]

Can you use V lever brakes with canti's?

I am looking for XT 2 finger brake levers but keep finding V brake levers will these work with canti's?[/quote]

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I have used V-brake levers with canti's before ok, if anything they feel better? It's canti-levers with V's you need an adapter for...

 

[WayneO]

Yes, but they have no leverage (the long arms of the v-brakes apply it). So they feel sharp as heck stationary, but when you're rolling along and apply the braks, next to nothing will happen, and you can't squeeze hard enough to make it happen.

 

[REKIBorter]

Agree. They feel great until you want to stop. Don't do it, it will only end in tears and dental reconstruction.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Yes, but they have no leverage (the long arms of the v-brakes apply it). So they feel sharp as heck stationary, but when you're rolling along and apply the braks, next to nothing will happen, and you can't squeeze hard enough to make it happen.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! :roll:

I'm now in the process of swapping the LX V's on my Cro-Mega for some canti's and I haven't got as far as swapping the levers yet (mainly because I'm discovering just exactly WHY V's are so much easier to set up!) so I've just taken it for a spin up (and more importantly DOWN!) the road...

No, I wasn't talking out of my hat, they DO work - if anything they are TOO powerful (I'm too old for stoppies! :shock: ) - so go ahead, try it and see what YOU think...

 

[drystonepaul]

I'm now in the process of swapping the LX V's on my Cro-Mega...

Are you using LX V levers with adjustable leverage like the ones pictured below?

If you are then the amount of cable pull can be adjusted to work fairly well with cantilevers. I think you just need to set them to the 'H' for high pull leverage to make them work with cantis. Could be the other way around though.

I'm not 100% sure...

 

[We_are_Stevo]

No, bog standard Deore V-Brake levers as below...

...all I've changed is the front V's for canti's so far - the rest of the setup is the same.

 

[JohnH]

Off the top of my head, I'd say that levers for cantis pull thru less brake cable but give more leverage, whereas V-brake levers pull thru more brake cable but give less leverage.

However IMHO, the leverage concern is a bit of a red herring; nobody would ever say "I couldn't stop because I didn't have the strength to apply the brakes -- I needed more leverage". There's enough strength in a human hand to make up for poor leverage by simply pulling harder on the brakes.

The problem I found when trying to use V-brakes with levers designed for cantis (the opposite problem of the OP) is that they simply didn't pull enough cable thru; the levers were getting very close to the grips before I the V-brakes really bit into the rims.

 

[Bensherman]

So I should be ok then to use XT m739 levers with m737 canti's?

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I would - just go steady while you get used to how fierce they are...

...and make sure you get your set-up spot on, with the correct toe-in, or you won't have enough 'feel' and you'll end up going head-first over the bars!