Bicycle Mechanics - switching from drop bars to flats - couple of questions

i'm not completely positive what will work and what won't, so i'm just going to throw this out there. tell me how wrong i am about this.

my wife has a late 90's or early 00's cannondale r300. it's got a triple sora 8spd group, aside from a tiagra 9spd rear derailleur. she loves the bike, but recently decided she'd rather have a flatbar instead of the drops. i'm mechanically inclined enough to do this myself, but i just want to make sure that it'd be fine to pull off the brifters and throw some 3x8 deore shifters on there. are the shifters and brake levers going to pull enough cable for the derailleurs and double pivot brakes? is there anything else i'd need to do? help please!

An interesting question.

1. The Deore shifter will definitely work fine with her rear derailleur.

2. The front shifter is questionable. Appearantly there is a slight cable pull difference in mountain front derailleurs vs. road front derailleurs. Never-the-less, tandem manufacturers and hybrid manufacturers used to routinely spec mountain shifters to work with road front derailleurs. I've worked on several such bikes. In fact, I have one in my besement right now. I've never had any front shifting issues on such bikes so I say "Do it.".

3. Most modern flat bar brake levers are configured for the amount of cable pull that V-brakes require. If you match them with road calipers your wife will need more braking effort to stop. However, she'll also get better modulation control.

Here's what I'd go with for the brake levers: http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=15693&category=1597

I think she'll end up hating the flat bar if she rides on the road. Save the pieces.

You could convince her that the tops of drop bars are just as flat as a flat bar is. If they end up in the same place, you haven't really gained much. Maybe a higher and/or closer stem might be the answer, and if the problem is reaching the brakes, a shorter reach handlebar.

+1. You should try some other handlebar/stem options before you get into replacing brifters and derailleurs. I'm a fan of the mustache bar or the on-one designs.