why CAN'T v brake levers be used with canti brakes?

[Carlos]

i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull more.

what does this have to do with the safety aspect of using V brake lever with canti brakes?

thanks in advance.

 

[Jon Isaacs]

>i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull more.

>what does this have to do with the safety aspect of using V brake lever with canti brakes?
>
>thanks in advance.

What it means is that you need to pull much harder to get the same braking force. If you ride off
road or in the rain, this is probably not a good thing.

jon isaacs

 

[Sheldon Brown]

carlos wrote:
> i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull more.
>
> what does this have to do with the safety aspect of using V brake lever with canti brakes?

"V-brake" levers pull the cable twice as far, half as hard.

If you use them with traditional cantis or calipers, your grip needs to be twice as strong for the
same amount of stopping power.

Sheldon "TANSTAAFL" Brown +-----------------------------------+
| The gains in life come slowly, | but the losses come suddenly. | -- Garrison Keillor |
+-----------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772
FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Kapers]

Hey. Some Vbrake levers have a Max/Min cable setting. Setting the lever to pull the least amount of
cable and adjusting the cable hanger quite low will help develop some power but Sheldon is right,
even this method will probably require up to 1-1/2 times the force at the lever to stop (at best)
versus a traditional canti - lever. Take care. Keith.

*------------------------------------------------*
* *
* "The knack lies in learning to throw yourself *
* -at the ground and miss" *
* D. Adams. *
* * *------------------------
-------------------------*

"carlos" <blacksheepQstic.net> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull
more.
>
> what does this have to do with the safety aspect of using V brake lever
with
> canti brakes?
>
> thanks in advance.
>
>

 

[Dan Baker]

carlos <blacksheepQstic.net> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull more.
> -------------

depending on what you are trying to do, you might want to check out the "Travel Agents" that
tandemers are commanly using these days with STI shifters and V-brakes. They are a little
double-roller thingy that sits at the end of the cable and makes the travel of a road STI lever work
ok with v-brakes... stops a tandem quite well actually!

if you are going the other direction, maybe you could reverse the travel agent?!

d

 

[Sheldon Brown]

carlos wrote:

i understand that canti levers pull less cable and v brake levers pull more.

what does this have to do with the safety aspect of using V brake lever with canti brakes?

I replied:

"V-brake" levers pull the cable twice as far, half as hard.

If you use them with traditional cantis or calipers, your grip needs to be twice as strong for the
same amount of stopping power.

Amit wrote:

The problem one's likely to have is that the levers will bottom out or almost bottom out even with
the pads set very close to the rim.

No, that's the opposite, that's what happens when you use conventional levers with direct-pull
("V-type") cantis.

Sheldon "Bad News Either Way" Brown +---------------------------------+
| Is ambivalence a bad thing? | Well, yes and no. | -- Garrison Keillor |
+---------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772
FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com