replacing cantilevers with v-brakes

hi. i've got an old raliegh bike and don't have the £££ to buy a new one so i'm just upgrading it.

whilst choosing my groupset i found shimano levers with built in shifters. but the levers are for v-brakes. i have cantilevers.

somoene told me that v-brake are a type of cantilever and use the same bosses as normal cantilevers, but i went to halfords and asked them and they said i'd have to have new boses brazed on if i really wanted them.

can anyone guerantee me that they will or will not fit?

if they don't fit, is there anythign wrong with fitting v-brake levers to cantilever brakes? (i know it wil be very responsive, but it won't be dangerous right?)

 

I changed the brakes on my old rockhopper from canti to v and used the same bosses. I'm not sure if there are different sizes though - but I bet you could make it work!

 

that;s what i thought. but then i bumped into a website that told you how to weld new bosses on old frames!

so from all the info we know old bikes have different bosses so it's just a question of having the newer one. thanks.

 

I upgraded my 94 Kona from cantis to v-brakes without any problems. I think it depends on how high or low the bosses were for the cantis, which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 

I've upgraded from Cantis to Vs too, no problems. Seems unlikely to me that you'd need the bosses changed, maybe it's a VERY old frame and the cantilevers are a different design?
And you can run V-Brake levers to canti brakes, although you will lose a bit of power. V-Brake levers are designed to pull more cable so you lose a bit of the mechanical advantage you'd get with levers designed for cantis...