Converting my wife’s drop bar road bike to a flat bar
 

Hi,

I am trying to figure out if I can simply buy flat bar v brake levers and mtb style cables to work on my wife’s mechanical road disc brakes. She is having issues with the drop bars, and I want to convert it to a flat bar for her. The bike is a mix of Sora and Tiagra.

Im not sure what mechanical brakes they are. I took a bad picture of them as the bike is tucked away in my shed.

Regarding the shifting, it seems that I can use any Shimano compatible shifter that has a 2 x 9.

I have been reading conflicting info on the internet and was hoping someone familiar with these conversions could help me out.

Thanks
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5ea1d6cd1.jpeg

If the discs are being used with drop bar road levers, they are short pull. Going to a v-brake lever would be not work quite correctly. See this discussion over in the Touring forum. You need levers for cantilever brakes or road brakes.

Thanks for the info!

The brake mfgr says the Render R model works with road levers.

https://www.promaxcomponents.com/pro...-r-disc-brake/

Thanks for the responses. Got the info I was looking for fast! You guys are the best.

Great info in the linked thread from cyccomute.

Cheers

If you look for the exact part number that is printed somewhere on your Shimano products, then we all will be better able to tell you something. Shimano makes compatibility charts for their products. But that only is for intermixing Shimano stuff.

If the bike has Shimano STI's then pull up the rubber covers and the part number will be embossed on the body somewhere. For DRs it'll be on on the backside of them. On the outside of the inner cage plate for the front DR and the backside of the parallelogram or pivot assembly. Sometimes difficult to see when installed, but not impossible with good light, good eyes and maybe a good camera you can zoom in with.

For disc brakes look near the frame or fork mount on the inside of the caliper body.

The brake lever question has been answered.
This is the part I'd be worried about, as Shimano road and mountain groups aren't exactly 100% interchangeable, so you'll be safer going with a dedicated flat bar road shifter setup. Otherwise, if you use MTB shifters, the front shifter/derailleur combination in particular could give problems.

Regarding brakes: like others have said, you calipers need short pull levers, AKA canti levers. Don’t use v-brake levers, as those are long pull. I am highly dubious of any lever that claims it does both unless they have an extremely large about of lever pull adjustment.

Regarding shifting:

Any Shimano 9 speed shifter will work with your 9 speed rear derailleur: Road MTB, or “flat bar road”. Any will work.

The front is a different story, as Road and MTB use different shifters. For this reason, you want to look for a shifter made for “Flat Bar Road”.