Mountain Biking - A quick question on V-Brakes and Cantilevers.

I recently pulled my old bike out of the shed to get back into riding. It's 7 years old but in near perfect condition, everything works perfectly. Except the brakes.

Back when I got it V-Brakes were still kind of new, and my bike came with cantilevers. I've since put on weight and am finding the old cantilever brakes to be almost completely useless. Due to this I went to a bike shop today and asked about getting V-Brakes, and how much they'd cost. They seem cheap enough, but there's one small problem. I was told that the levers for cantilever and V-Brakes are different, and that I'd need new levers. That, in itself, is no problem, except that my shifters and levers are a one-piece deal and I both love my current shifters and dont want to put down the cash for new ones.

Sorry for the text block, it's question time. When I got home, I checked out a couple of newer bikes equipped with V-brakes, and from what I can see the levers operate exactly the same. The linkage connected to the wire has the same pivot and everything appears to line up the same. So what I'd like to know, without hauling the bike across town, is if there's any chance my current brake levers can be properly adapted to V-Brakes. Thanks in advance for any answers.

I recently pulled my old bike out of the shed to get back into riding. It's 7 years old but in near perfect condition, everything works perfectly. Except the brakes.

Back when I got it V-Brakes were still kind of new, and my bike came with cantilevers. I've since put on weight and am finding the old cantilever brakes to be almost completely useless. Due to this I went to a bike shop today and asked about getting V-Brakes, and how much they'd cost. They seem cheap enough, but there's one small problem. I was told that the levers for cantilever and V-Brakes are different, and that I'd need new levers. That, in itself, is no problem, except that my shifters and levers are a one-piece deal and I both love my current shifters and dont want to put down the cash for new ones.

Sorry for the text block, it's question time. When I got home, I checked out a couple of newer bikes equipped with V-brakes, and from what I can see the levers operate exactly the same. The linkage connected to the wire has the same pivot and everything appears to line up the same. So what I'd like to know, without hauling the bike across town, is if there's any chance my current brake levers can be properly adapted to V-Brakes. Thanks in advance for any answers.

V-brakes offer a much higher degree of mechanical advantage than traditional cantilevers, and therefore you can't use normal canti levers with V's. If you tried to, you'd either end up with the brake pads squished against the rim constantly, or the levers would pull right back to the handlebars without the pads making contact with the rim. Sorry to say, but if you want V's you'll have to get new levers, and from the sounds of things, new shifters. Before doing that, I'd suggest trying to tune the brakes you have. There's no cost to that if you do it yourself (it's pretty simple) and little cost to have your LBS do it for you. You may find that tuning them makes a big difference. You might also want to try getting new brake pads too. I'm assuming you have stock brake pads, and they often suck. Try picking up some Koolstops and see if that helps. That's another cheap fix you could try before shelling out for new V's, levers and shifters.

No, levers and setup may look identical but the rate of cable pull is different. V-levers pull more cable. Some people use these little gizmos called travel agents along with V-brakes if you're using old canti levers and they seem to work well.

My suggestion is to perhaps use different brake pads on your current setup and see if you'll see any improvement. Cantis, if properly setup and adjusted are almost as effective as V-brakes in stopping power.

Not quite what I wanted to hear, sadly. Thanks for the answers though, guess I'll see how much new shifters would run me.

The Canti's right now are adjusted as well as they can get with the cable I have and even with fresh pads they stop terribly.

Not quite what I wanted to hear, sadly. Thanks for the answers though, guess I'll see how much new shifters would run me.

The Canti's right now are adjusted as well as they can get with the cable I have and even with fresh pads they stop terribly.

Could you tell us what level of components you have on now? And how many speeds?

Could you tell us what level of components you have on now? And how many speeds?

Acera X rear derailleur, pretty low-grade. I don't even know if they make the things anymore, but it shifts reliably and smoothly even when I beat the hell out of it. It's a seven speed in the rear, three in front. The shifter/brake lever components say nothing on them, the cables running out say Msystem. I've never known much about the components on a bike really, so I have no idea if that's a model or just a name to stick on a cable cover.

http://www.bikeusa.com/MERCHANT2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MSGI&Product_Code=LD8874

Now I'm not sure if it's for both left and right shifter units. You might want to call them up and ask.

Thanks a bunch man, I never thought they'd be that cheap!

Thanks a bunch man, I never thought they'd be that cheap!

That's the advantage of riding the trailing edge of technology. :D

Man that's cheap..! Those the shifters with one click per gear?

If the bike is 7 years old, are they 8-speed lever/shifter assembly?..... unless Aceras were all spec'd as 7-speeds. I'm not too familiar with this groupo, only LX's and above.

If the bike is 7 years old, are they 8-speed lever/shifter assembly?..... unless Aceras were all spec'd as 7-speeds. I'm not too familiar with this groupo, only LX's and above.

I believe Duplicitous mentioned they were 7-speed or at least implied it.


Acera X rear derailleur, pretty low-grade. I don't even know if they make the things anymore, but it shifts reliably and smoothly even when I beat the hell out of it. It's a seven speed in the rear, three in front. The shifter/brake lever components say nothing on them, the cables running out say Msystem. I've never known much about the components on a bike really, so I have no idea if that's a model or just a name to stick on a cable cover.

I believe Duplicitous mentioned they were 7-speed or at least implied it.

Yep...you're right....

As the fixer mentioned, there are these devices called Travel Agents.

They attach to your vee brakes calipers and they "correct" the cable pull so you can use your Cantilever brake levers/shifter combos with Vee brakes. The Travel Agents are about 12 to 15 dollars a piece, but that may be a better option than upgrading your whole cockpit.

http://207.159.131.245/brakes/travel_agent.htm

L8R

Hi,
before we go spending lots of money, let's try the easy stuff.
Cantilevers work great, if they are well made and maintained.
Bet you need new brake pads. Have you tried replacing the pads?
A few cantis didn't offer good braking power, but if it's a Shimano it's prob fine. Throw on some new pads, ask your LBS if there is something that works better on your bike than the standard pad. I have good luck with Eagle Cool Stops(I think that's the name).
Dollars to donuts after you replace the pads and grease the cables it'll work fine.

I've got a couple of set of Eagle Cool stops in my parts bin if you want them, just cover the shipping and I'll send them to you. I bought a couple of spares back in the day and then switched to Vee Brakes. They're Yellow though!

L8R

Recently, I put my Avid SD7 V-brakes on a third bike that had canti's (shimano's, on the front), and I used the old levers that had the shifter/lever combo. These are the old Shimano ShortPull lever's (10 years old, plastic lever) with the thumb up/down shifter built on the bottom (they were very common on alot of bikes, I'm sure you have all seen/used them). Used a reg. stainless cable with some old Avid housing. This combo works great together. No over/under pull at all, and the brakes work extremly well. I was using Avid SD7 levers before I changed them to the other bike, and they feel like they work just aswell, the plastic levers have some flex to them, but at the point of flex, the brakes are already tight enough to put you over the bars. Just a thought before you go to the bank.