My Tricross Sport came with V-brakes (err, "Tricross-specific forged linear pull, road-lever specific length"), whereas the levers are "Shimano Tiagra, 9-speed STI, flight deck compatible w/ brake lever extensions". It seems this is not a good combination, for the reasons that Sheldon Brown spells out at length about mechanical advantage. The problem is manifesting itself as extremely low tolerance: the pads have to be set a millimetre or two above the rims, so the instant the rim is no longer true, it starts touching the pads. Set the pad further back, and the brakes go spongey, and I have to pull all the way to get any stopping power.

Has anyone dealt with this dilemma? The only resolution seems to be putting on cantilevers. But given that Specialized moved away from cantilevers to vbrakes, presumably to address the fork shudder problem, that could be a risky move? Also I don't want to spend the money "fixing" something that theoretically isn't "broken".

Advice? Thoughts?

Steve