Originally Posted by
BikeManDan
It feels like running a short pull lever with linear brakes but I'm fairly certain the Deore XT levers I have are set to linear pull.
Shimano never offered XT brake levers that were convertable between center and side pull cantilevers. I seriously suspect you've got center pull levers. The front brake feels ok due to the short length of housing.
The very first V-brake XT levers were model BL-M739, while the STI versions were model ST-M739. If you've got the M738 or lower models, they're for center pull brakes only.