Bicycle Mechanics - travel agents or v-daptor?

Hi all,

Sorry for another question! I have just found v-daptors which are quite a bit cheaper than travel agents. Will they do the job just as well?

Thanks

Daven

Ignore! I was being dense and didn't realise that the v-daptor is only for v-brakes not all linear pull brakes.

Actually, it looks like the V-daptor is very similar in function to travel agents... it should work on all mtb linear-pull brakes with non-linear-compatible levers.

Well I have bb5 disc brakes - think it'll work on them? Maybe I will phone the store tomorrow.

Actually neither will work in a clean and tidy manner on BB5's. Of the two the Travel Agent should have the best chance because it could stub into the housing barrel adjuster more neatly. The V-dapter may be useable but I doubt it. Because of the way the V-dapter mounts to the screw normally used to secure the cable it would not be sitting down in the curved shoe of the BB5. The messy part is that either option will result in the cable coming off the caliper at right angles to the normal installation. This will make for some funky looking cable routing. But again the Travel Agent stands the best chance of being decently adaptable because it can swivel around to point in either direction. But no doubt about it, neither is going to result in a tidy looking install. Proper levers would be the optimum method.

But are you sure you need the adapter? Avid makes a BB5 road caliper as well as the off road BB5. In looking closely at the pictures of the two they are the same radius on the activating arms. This means there is no difference in how much cable they require so either would work with any lever be they road or mountain. All you'll get with a road lever is that the engagement may be a little too energetic. But before you go into all this I'd just try them with direct cabling and see if you have an issue that requires a pull adapter.

Thanks for the advice. I believe there is an inline version of the travel agent which is probably what I'd go for (even though it is a bit more expensive!). I am most certainly going to try it using direct cabling and hopefully it will be ok. If it is kind of ok then I'll probably just get a travel agent for the front.

Thanks for the help

Daven