Last summer I upgraded my '09 Surly Cross Check to Shimano Sora 3x9 brifters and Tektro CR720 front & rear brakes. After the upgrade, braking was much more difficult. I tried all the shims to no avail. I took the bike to my LBS, they also made a bunch of adjustments but never solved the issue. They told me it was inherent in the design of the levers. With a big tour coming up, I opted to change back to my old levers (Tektro R100's) and kept the new brakes.

Now I am wondering if there is a way to upgrade my bike to brifters while keeping the same level of braking power. Does anyone have any advice on how to do this?

I had two ideas:

1. Maybe braking power was reduced because the Shimano levers have the wrong mechanical advantage for my brakes? Since the levers are New Super SLR, I could change to New Super SLR Shimano brakes. I was not clear on whether this would help much so I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts here.

2. Run Campagnolo levers (the levers look like they give the same mechanical advantage as my Tektro's), either as Shimergo or fully replace the drivetrain. But I am really hesitant to do either. Shimergo seems like it will never quite operate perfectly and fully replacing the drivetrain seems expensive especially for an 8 year old bike.

Thanks for your help!