What's the widget called that let's you use V brakes with drop levers ?

Is there more than one type ?

TIA.

UC, I've used Travel Agent: https://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.a...m=005639001403

Brad

mini v brakes or a travel agent

The only problem I've ever heard of with a travel agent is where the cable has to wrap around and feed through the pulley. That configuration places a lot of stress on the cable and that is where most will break.

I had an old touring bike once that used travel agents...In my opinion there are better options. I purchased a set of dia-comp 287-V road brake levers. They are designed to be used with V-brakes without any adapters. Those worked great and were still on the bike when I sold it.

The second option is a set of V-brakes designed to be used with standard road levers. Off hand I don't have the brands or model numbers available to pass on to you, but I have seen them. A little time on Google should produce some answers.

Crane Creek makes road levers with longer pull for V brake use. They are not brifters though. I have had Travel agents on two tandems for years with zero cable problems. RogerRoger

This is my recommendation if you don't have brifters. I use the tektro copy of the crane creeks, and they work extremely well. Just get two of the v-brake noodles with barrel adjusters, or install inline barrel adjusters, or bot.

I've done a lot of work with tandems so I've messed with Travel Agents on both personal bikes and customer bikes for around 15 years. During all that time I've never heard of a single failure related to the Travel Agent. The kink in the brake cable, where it goes through the pulley, is the only part of the cable that never moves or flexes.

There is another style that's available from Santana but I forget what it's called. It eliminates the kink in the cable, and it can be installed in the free run of cable housing between the brake lever and the cable stop on the frame.

Whenever these threads come up "mini v's" get mentioned. My experience with them has not been so satisfactory. The issue is ability to remove your wheel. If you set up the brakes close enough that they'll work with regular road brake levers, you can't slide the noodle from the arm to open the brake caliper. One solution is to use a noodle that has a barrel adjuster attached. Another is to clip off the nose of the noodle.

Both the Dia Compe and Cane Creek long pull brake levers get good reviews, but then you sacrifice the ability to shift from your brake levers.

In coverage of the German bike trade shows i saw a conversion devise
that used a road bike brake cable input, and converted it to a pair of master cylinders
fluid pressure output, to operate the hydraulic caliper on the disc..

as the new UCI allowance for disc brakes on the Pro Cyclocross bikes is in place
lighter clever parts, like this, are bound to show up.

A solution is to use Tektro brake levers or Campy Ergo brifters. Both of these have a quick release built into the lever body which allows the levers to move further forward and provides slack in the cable.

I have Tektro R200 brake levers on a bike with Shimano cantilever brakes and the lever's qr function provides the needed slack to let me disconnect the straddle cable even with the brake pads set up close to the rim.