Yes... I know just run drops. But I don't like drops all that much so.....

Building up a Soma Double cross. It does come with tiagra and drops, but its setup with Jones bars and hydros/mtb shifters. Now I could reinstall the bb7 calipers but why? I have these nice hydros setup, the bike has rim brake rims and a disc hub. Now mtb hydros won't fit on a drop bar and I don't want to modify them.

Heres the bike with Jones bars (Don't want those)



Heres the Bars I've created for it (lovely to use)




Blurred but my smart phone is getting ready to die.

Now, the issue. It has a nice set of hydros that will mounted the same way that deores are on my mtb. This leaves me with no braking power on the 'drops'. But, The Soma frame is designed for BOTH discs and cantis/v brakes thus, if I mount the approriate lever on the bull horn I can get at least an operational rear brake for slowing me down a tad. This bike is going to be my Brevet bike so its going to get some looonng rides in thus the many hand postions. I just can't deal with more than 12 hours at a time with normal drop bars.

I'm going to have to find either thinner bullhorns (not a good option I like the way they feel) or find a standard v brake lever that will clamp to one side or the other. I have some plastic v brake levers from my kids bike left over from upgrading. But, the clamp is way to small. Any bright ideas on how to find (or modify) a lever that fits?

OK, controls in place with a bit of sawing and superglue. Now I just need a v brake caliper.

I can't figure out what the question is, but have you considered a profession in photography?

It was a question on how the heck I get a brake lever to fit onto a bar end. But brutality and superglue solved that. Did a search and it seems that every thread that even mentions discs and rims in the same thread is labeled as 'dumb'. Now, in this case I think not as I really do want some way to at least slow down when the wind is blowing hard and I want to use the lower grip postion. Its said that a picture paints a thousand words an this case its easy to show what I want to say than type it. I've actually wanted to try this particular mod for a few years but I just never had a reason until now. A busted up old mtb and some spare parts lying around. Pity I gave the frame to the recycling dude with the v brakes on it before I considered putting extra brakes on.

Odd, I've never seen a thread labeled as "dumb."

Not sure how useful just a back brake is, but hey it beats no brake and weight is no issue to me. If I want to stop in a hurry I have the hyrdos.

What a lot of Tandem bikers do is to have a "drag" brake for the rear end when doing long descents. Usually it's a rear drum or disk that is actuated by a handlebar-mounted friction shifter. You don't want to use rear rim brakes for a drag brake since they get HOT! I've followed a tandem crew with a bright red smoking disk on a long steep downhill.

Maybe a Paul Thumbie mounted on the handlebar for the rim brake? Wouldn't work with hydraulics, tho.

I'm using hydraulic brakes on Trekking bars . Believe me It is not difficult at all to move your hands

back to where the levers are , quite quickly ..

you cannot daisy chain hydro disc brakes .. but you can do a primary and interruptor lever on the same cable.

I just question, other than on drop bars, Why? .. going to use the rim for parking brakes?

(would be better than gripping a Hot Disc, and holding it on.)

Got the ergonomics right. Just need a disc/v brake fork and two v brake calipers and cables. The forward position is low enough and more comfortable than under the bars so I put the brakes there. Found a dual mount fork for the mtb. Which would also support a rear v brake and disc but its not as nice as the one I have. Guess the Soma gets.my creation and the mtb gets her flat bars back.

Want brakes within easy reach on alternative positions that aren't road brakes. Hoods hurt badly after 200-300km. Flat bars and hydros also give me way more confidence descending but, I want the 'hood' position for crusing now and then. In summary I want my cake and eat it to.

Avid BB7 road + cantilever pull mountain levers+ interruptor levers , grip the disc quite well

the stopping , on mountain roads will still work fine .. only inconvenience is the pad wear adjustment is You.

rather than something the caliper does.. much more a simplified system , found reliable by thousands of users.

Trekking bars & the bar ends of ergon grips , laying my open palm on them is a comfortable hand position..

mechanism in place. left the pads out as this bike runs the wrong wheelset. Looks good... feels good...

you know , rather than the increased weight of double braking systems, you could just use a cable splitter to run two levers to single brake
eliminates the 'dumb' factor and enables a front dual control as well

Problem Solvers

I could, but then I lose my hydros. Weight matters not, and I already have the hydros in place on the Soma anyhow. I love hydros on steep hills. Yes, I also have some bb7 calipers I could put into the system but then I need new brake levers as well. Seems to me the best and cheapest soltion with the parts at hand is to go dual brakes. Yes, I'll need a new fork if I want dual front as well but hey... a nice carbon fork is lighter than the steel one the Soma has anyway. For now I'll run the back as it is and when I feel rich I'll swap out the front fork and add in another v brake.

oh, hadn't noticed the hydro detail, thought was cables

I haven't dealt with hydraulic before, but wouldn't a hydraulic splitter be even simpler to design - just a 'T' hose connector?
(compared to all the crazy 'guts' inside the problem solvers splitter)

The Magura Rim brake, as a closed system could daisy chain on a second lever,
just as the second rim slave is daisy chained on the other end..
Bleed screw just moves further down the line , to the additional piston.

Not with Shimano hydrolic calipers they are designed to work one caliper, one lever. The only way I can think of going Discs only and four levers would be BB7s on the discs, and then splitters to different levers. I REALLY don't like cable actuated discs. Always need adjusting. Hydros stay set till the pads are worn to the point of uselessness. Though thinking about it, that concept might just work. If you got the T connector really well sealed then I suspect four identical levers might actually work in pairs.

For a minute I was going to report this thread to the mods. I thought it said, "Third leg on a tourist." Glad I checked before I did anything rash.

while a T connector doesn't exist as a bike specific branded product

surely the hydraulic hose used in bikes is a standardized item borrowed from other industry
legitimate connector devices will exist there

Sure, but when you squeeze a lever, the fluid will take the path of least resistance. That will be to go to the other brake lever, not the brake. Dual controls in hyrdaulic systems are complicated, or they're mechanical (or electrical) ways of operating one control.