If disc brakes were desired on a drop bar tourer are cable disc brakes like the Avid BBV not compatible with drop bar levers, whether standard or V brake levers like the Tektro RL20 or Dia Compe 287V?
That said properly I've always found properly adjusted V brakes strong enough. Cantis are a bit harder to adjust as there is more variables.
http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-g...tml#mechanical (snip)
Yes I've read the Sheldon article. My Shimano BR550s are arranged to have high-ish mechanical advantage. I have yet to try the Kool-Stop Mountain Salmon pads vs the Kool-Stop road pads I've bought. Sheldon/Harris recommends these, mebbe they do the trick. But I'm thinking a greater amount of safety margin would be nice. I'm a big auto/motorcycle-racing fan, have yet to see those guys racing at Summit Point in the rain with non-disc. Oh wait, there was one guy with an ancient moto lapping around at the back of the pack. NASCAR is deliberately antiquated yet they moved to disc brakes decades ago.
OK cars & motorcycles aren't quite the same thing as bicycles. Yet all the mountain bike pros ride discs
AFAIK, & while many dinosaur cyclists defend rim brakes nobody seems to actually claim they work as well in wet weather as discs do. Folks say stuff like 'they work fine except for the moment required to scrub off the moisture'! Yeah well, as a bike racing fan I've seen many times when that one moment was too long. '71 Tour de France had Luis Ocana leading Eddy Merckx by a large margin--in the midst of a sudden mountain hailstorm Merckx gained time after Ocana crashed heavily--or when Olympic speed-skating star Eric Heiden crashed into a stopped team car during the Tour of Italy.