How to add an in-line quick release? + brake lever types
 

I'm converting a road bike to use flat/MTB bars/shifters (actually a weird road bike that came w/ MTB components including grip shifters..so mostly I am just changing the bar shape)...but the calipers do not have a QR mechanism for the cable. I was hoping to do this using nothing but 'bin' parts from my workshop & I don't think I have a suitable set of calipers w/ a QR....is there some sort of in-line housing widget that someone sells I could run? (hope that makes sense...I can visualize it, but I've never seen one).

Alternately, if there's no simple fix, I may be freeing up a set of brakes that would be good for this soon.

Also...I know road/cantilever levers don't give enough leverage for V-brakes, but what should I expect if I use a V-brake lever (so simple, so tempting w/ so many near-virgin shifter/lever combos in the 'bin') with road brake calipers?

thanks in advance

These are used a lot for tandems, and sometimes single bikes, with couplers that allow the frame to separate. They are available from daVinci, and are called "Easy-split in-line cable separators".

If you've got strong hands and a good pad/rim combo expect a quite nice and crisp brake action, with a tad more force required to lock the wheels up.

Are you talking about being able to actually split the cable, or are you talking about getting enough slack for easy wheel removal?

If it's the latter the easiest fix I can think of is to source some in-line barrel adjusters, as I've never seen an inline brake QR like the ones found on the brake calipers.

Wow, great source on the DaVinci. For my purposes, it would be more economical to use different calipers, but that's good to know. These brakes have barrel adjusters & looking at them it looks like the pivot where typically you'd have a QR lever is replaced with the lock nut for the cable...otherwise they're basically no-name road bike brakes like any other semi-modern road bike would have. For reference, it's a 1996 Giant Kronos GS...an odd bird in its native form.

I was thinking that V-brake levers had more pull for the same lever movement...so I was thinking it would be the opposite...ie, "touchy" brakes...ok.

V-brake levers move more cable, but with less force. Less force equals less chance of accidental lock-up, hence "better" modulation.

Correct but the extra leverage is built into the brake arms so the effective braking force is about the same.

OK....was late & this morning my comprehension of physics is crisper! Also crisper is my recollection that I have a perfectly good set of brake lever/shifters from a bike that had cantilever brakes....so, leverage problem solved. Thanks for the feedback.

That post was referring to the mismatched combo of V-brake levers and canti brakes, which gives you weaker braking but nice control.

OP; You could go old school and put Shimano Q/R's on it circa 1980-ish. They are about $4.50 each on ebay brand new and very shiny. If have 28.6mm steerer, just file the ID a wee bit to get it to slide on at the front as they come as a loose fit for 25.4mm steerers. I used a threadless spacer also. For the rear, it just goes under the seat post clamp, but in my bikes case, I needed to replace the clamp bolt with one 5mm longer...easy and cheap to do as longer metric bolts are about $5 for a good sized bag of them. After doing this, I saw a post about the in-line Q/R's and clearly those would be cooler today, but they would have looked 'out of place' on mine... Here is a pix of front and rear. PM if have questions. And I am already aware that one wire in the rear brake cable is askance when I took the pix back then.

/K

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=341298 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=341299

You could just adjust the brakes with the barrel adjusters on the levers dialed out some. When you need to remove the wheels, just dial the adjusters back into the levers. Then you don't have to buy anything.