I've had brifters with travel agents and v-brakes, bar ends with v-brakes, and bar ends with canti brakes. Brifters don't work well with heavy gloves, so I eventually replaced them with bar ends. Personally, I prefer the modulation with v-brakes so I'd go that route. Plus, they're dirt simple to set up and adjust.

I'm assuming your location of "Windy City" means Chicago?? If they sand the streets in the winter, a possible concern for using a travel agent is sand getting between the pulley and frame and locking it up. You'll be able to brake just fine if that happens, but the return spring may not have the strength to overcome the grit to pull the pads back off the rim. Even with fenders in MN, it's been a problem for me with my road tandem during the summer in wet conditions when the wheels/passing cars pick up winter sand and splash it into the travel agents. We've had to stop and flush it out with water bottles. I'm toying with replacing the V-brakes with canti's, as I've had no problems with canti's on my other bikes.

chicago is a salt city. millions and millions of tons of road salt. no sand.

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from my experience of using an old '90s MTB as a winter commuter last year in chicago, i found that the canti's worked ok, but because winter riding here is so unmercifully sloppy, i had to be annoyingly diligent about cleaning my rims to maintain proper braking performance. my new foul weather/winter bike has hydraulic discs. i'm hopping that the discs pick up less winter road glop than the rims, so that i can be more lax in my winter cleaning regimen.

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...22-2-23-8.html

Yes, a salty soup when the roads are damp and a salty powder that covers everything when the roads are dry.

I think that frequent cleaning is required no-matter-what. I've had some local shop mechanics tell me that mechanical disc calipers don't hold up well in Chicago winters.

I want to use this bike as a four season touring, rain & winter rig, so I'm staying with a drop bar bike. Hydraulic brakes were never an option for this build.

I'm also going to limit my riding to dry-er days, when the roads have some ice in spots, but a dry track can be found. The studded tires will be more for insurance than necessity.

Those would work, but I think Fietsbob was referring to something like the Jagwire barcon 2.0 mounts. They keep the bar end shifters as bar ends instead of thumb shifters. You put the bar end shifter on the Jagwire mount. The mount goes around the bar instead of inside the bar like the Shimano does. They come with a shim so they can be used on 22.2 bars.

that's a nice ideal, but i live in a tiny highrise condo downtown and i just don't have a good place to clean my bike in the winter, other than my balcony, and it's cold as hell out there at this time of year. i got tired of freezing my butt off out on my balcony cleaning my rims throughout winter so that i could still stop my bike if i needed to. hydraulic discs won't eliminate that entirely, i'm just hoping i don't have to spend as much time as i did last winter cleaning rims.

V's, unless running STIs or some other lever you want that uses cantilever pull ratio. I wouldn't mess with the travel agents. Cantis can work just as well, just some are more difficult to set up correctly.

Here's my take on this as a fellow Chicago winter commuter. I built up a touring frame (the Nashbar aluminum) with cro-moly fork to be my all around commuter, touring bike. I don't have the money or space for multiple bikes so I had to make a Swiss Army Knife kinda bike. I run cheapo Tektro V-brakes that came off my Scattante parts donor bike. I originally had a flat bar on the Scattante, but switched it out for a basic Easton drop bar. I run Shimano bar end shifters and Cane Creek Drop V brake levers. I think this is an excellent setup. I run SKS Bluemells (aka Alley Cat) fenders and 700x32 Vittoria Randonneur tires right now. The only interference I get with the brakes and fenders is that the little metal piece that holds the noodle rubs slightly across the tops of the fenders. I could lower the fenders down slightly but the metal piece barely touches and it doesn't seem to affect braking force. When my rims are clean and my pads are in good shape I can lock up and stop on a dime. Right now my rims are dirty and my pads are shot, so I really have to clamp down to get that stopping power. I'm not a huge fan of my Easton bar on the touring frame, so I'm looking at this bar for a replacement: https://ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=448376 Just another variation of the Salsa Woodchipper, except the Ritchey has a Randonneur/touring type of layout with the slight up-sweep at the ends and a slight flare backwards that puts your elbows inwards more than traditional drop bars do when you're riding on the flats. I like drop bars much better for Chicago riding, because you have the option of getting down in the drops to help combat those all to frequent headwinds. However, I don't like really deep drops like what you have with traditional road bike drop bars like my current Easton bar, hence the forthcoming switch to the Ritchey bar which has much shallower, and thus closer drops. Finally, I've done some checking and I will be able to run 700x32 studded tires with my frame/fender setup with no problem, so when the ice finally arrives I can still ride.

Well, I'm narrowing down my choices;

The Soma bars arrived and they are not going to work with road bike brake levers. I may not be able to use them on this bike. I'll put them on my hybrid.

I'll buy the Salsa Moto Ace Woodchipper handlebars. These will fit my 25.4mm stem size, and will take brifters or bar-end shifters and the black finish matches everything else.

The plan is to use Tektro CR 720 cantilever brakes with Cane Creek brake levers. I'm expecting that these will perform better than Tektro Oryx, or at least more forgiving to set up. I'll have total freedom to fit large tires and oversize fenders.

This plan also includes Shimano bar-end shifters, these are easier to use with thick mits or gloves.

This covers all my requirements and the cost is lower than the alternatives.

Thank you everyone for the feedback.

You'll like that setup I think. Also, the Shimano bar end shifters will operate on friction mode just in case something gets gunked up and the index shifting stops working. The front shifter is already friction though which is nice because you can move it a hair up or down to avoid chain rubs when you're in some of those awkward chain lines from being in the biggest cog on the back.

Couple more bars to concider are Origin8 Tiki bars thats close the the Bridgestone XO Mustache bars but dirt cheap compared to the Nitto's. WTB has a dirt drop style bar. I have both and they both fit bar ends and road levers fine. Niagra cycle sells both online.
I'm taking my Fuji TouringIII and building it up as a Porteur with the Tiki bars. I'll be mocking it up in the next couple days and try to get pictures. bars are already on it and I'm really like the feel. Nice and relaxed feel.

You can't go wrong with Shimano (DA) bar-end shifters. If any of my STIs break again, I will replace them with DA bar-ends. They are easy to use, relatively inexpensive, totally reliable and durable, and easier to shift with heavy gloves on. Their only drawback is that you can't use a bar-end mirror.

and to keep set up as the pads wear down...

I have found that cantilevers are *a little* tricky to set up but once you get the hang of it they are not all that bad. Part of the trick is getting the right tension on those set screws on the sides. You may find that after initial installation, only one side is pulling - once you get the correct tension on both sides they will both pull equal distances.

Currently running VO cantis. Because they are shiny and retro and I built up a slave to fashion bike. They work, but not as well Tektro 720 cantis. Workmanship and adjustability on the VO brakes is marvelous, but the Tektros offer almost as much and perform better. VO for looks, Tektro for function.

I have big 26" fenders on my bike. Might try V-brakes because I know they'd be better than what I got going on right now, but I am definitely worried about interference. I think I'd try Cane Creek Direct Curve 3s if I get the itch to mod.

Any how, Barrettscv, consider Drum Brakes.. the stopping will be consistent.
as the wet icy rim will not have to dry out, with brake shoe, scraping stuff off
before braking will start happening.
and the frame and fork won't need special mounts like discs do.

I would, but I've only seen them on vintage bikes. I don't need huge braking power during winter with studs on the bike. I feel like I'm dragging an anchor before even using the brakes.

Any links to brake hubs?

Sturmey-Archer.. Ive got a UK made pair in use for 25 years.. always work
never need service. screw on 7 speed freewheel on mine..

the new Brand owners, on Taiwan added a lot of models,
including a cassette/drum combo.
and improved the IG hub versions .. added a improved Dynohub in the front.

Your Chicago LBS distributors, likely carry many, QBP carries a few.
Import POE, is Oakland Cal, these days as Sturmey USA is in my old home town
Napa.

the benefit is they modulate very smoothly in any weather, no grabby feel ,
a benefit on Icy roads..

Could you install one on the front, in addition to the front & rear rim brakes?

...or would mixing brake sytems be a mistake?

It would be overly complicating things, to no real benefit.
you want to pull the wheels in summer, rather than just change tires?

I'm not finding any rear drum hubs. I was thinking of sourcing a S-A Drum brake & Dyno front hub and selecting the same rim I use now. Then, just install a extra lever on the cross bar. The bike would still have front & rear rim brakes.

During mild weather, I would change the front wheel to a standard hub.

The problem is that, due to snow & ice, I would have a 100% effective brake on the front and a less effective rim brake on the back. That seems like a problem.

I've got my new winter bike complete enough to ride now and it's got a Shimano roller brake on the rear and a disc brake on the front. Supposedly the roller brake is meant for a standard pull lever but it's definitely got a mushy feel when paired with a typical road lever. Don't know if SA drum brakes are the same way or not.

One thing I'd recommend and I plan on doing myself is using some compressionless cable housing. The mechanical disc cable kit that Nashbar sells is just repackaged Jagwire "ripcord". It's a great deal for 6 or 7 bucks.

Mushy feel aside, it's plenty strong enough to skid by rear tire though the studs skid pretty easy anyway. It's not light at 1.5 pounds and I suspect it adds some drag to the wheel, especially in cold weather.

On the positive side, there's virtually no adjustments to worry about. Cable tension is it. You don't have to align pads or calipers. There's also no pads to replace. They do wear out eventually I guess but other than adding grease once a year or so there's no maintenance. Though I haven't but a ton of miles on them yet but there's been no squealing.

Big concern I have though is flatting. I'm going to get a wing nut to simplify detaching the reaction arm. To get the wheel off you need to loosen the 2 nuts on the hub, detach the brake and shift cables, and then detach the reaction arm. I'd like to be able to do that all with a single, small adjustable wrench.

For me the roller brake is kind of an experiment. What started out as a $25 frame I got on a whim has turned into a time consuming and increasingly expensive project. To use a disc brake on the rear I would have had to get a different hub or an expensive adaptor. Then there's the cost of the caliper itself. The roller brake was under $25 at Amazon. We'll see how it makes it through the winter vs the disc brake. I may keep it or may spring for the adaptor and a disc brake next year.

Higher leverage will feel 'mushy' because of the mechanical advantage.

[A really low gear made the chain feel like rubber]

A V brake brake lever has a much Lower Mechanical advantage, pulls more cable
because the leverage of the caliper is so much greater. it demands it.

road type, older levers with the cable out the top have less mechanical leverage than Aero

they fall in the middle. V brake levers less yet ..

so for crisper feel on drum Brakes a V lever may make things feel better..

I've used the older road lever, personally, with my mustache bar equipped
Old Stumpjumper rescue.
wheels with Sturmey Elite hubs,sealed axle bearings, freewheel rear,
Snow Cat Rims, Nokian Mount and ground W tires.

N+ 1, I use a different bike when things Thaw.. which is most of the winter
out here.

I've considered a travel agent or getting a v-brake compatible road lever like the Tektro RL-520. I'll try the compressionless cable first and may just decided to live with it.