Originally Posted by
dynaryder
Yeah,not a canti fan either,but was trying to keep his costs down. Also,I wouldn't swap the levers,I'd just add PS Travel Agents. They worked great when I converted my old Fuji cross.
I've got a pair of Travel Agents on the shelf in my garage. They used to be on my Cross Check (since sold). They work OK, but they can be fiddly too. Plus, if you're using dedicated brake levers (as opposed to shift+brake), which Cross Checks usually do, you can get a set of long pull levers cheaper than you can get a pair of Travel Agents. When I was piecing together my LHT, I got a pair of Tektro RL520 levers and a cheap pair of rebranded Tektro V-brakes from Performance. IMO, this combination works noticeably better than the Ultegra levers + Travel Agents + Avid Single Digit 7's that I had on my Cross Check.
But you're right that with sufficient effort cantilever brakes can be made to work well.