kreative

Hello all, I am trying to set up my All City Space Horse and seeking some advice. It will be set up with Shimano 5700 105 triple road groupset, still debating on cantis vs v-brakes (likely cantis) but that will probably need more research/another thread. I am interested in setting up my bike with a front porteur rack such as the Velo Orange one, and a bag like the Acorn Rando or Jandd bag. My question is if setting up this way would interfere with the brifters from shifting? The 5700 cable routing is under the bartape, so at least the cables are out of the way, but will the actual shift levers be blocked/prevented from shifting?

TIA for your feedback.

urbanescapee

I don't have 105 STI shifters on my bike, but my wife does. It's really gonna depend on what you put on the top of the rack or how wide your chosen bag is. For shifting, the end of the brake lever moves inward about 3 inches or so. I would think it should be fine but there are so many variables...the two mentioned already, and also your handlebar width, head tube height, stack height, stem rise/drop, stem reach...

fietsbob

People have solved the shifter cable out the side of the brifter - handlebar bag interference before ..

kreative

thanks urbanscapee i thought most would say something along the lines as you.

Thanks fietsbob, but I'm more concerned about the shift lever action and the bag/rack interference. The 5700 105 group routes under the bar tape so no issues with the cables.

bmike

How wide a bar are you running? On a 42, you *might* have issues, but I can't imagine that will be a problem with the Acorn. IIRC there is only about 2" of throw on the lever. (been a long time since I ran Shimano brifters)

I run 46 CowBell2s on my IF, I can run my bikepacking setup up front without shifting issues (although I recently switched to bar ends for separate reasons). This setup sits higher than most bag / rack combos.

Heres the Acorn on a Marks Rack. Those were 44 (or 46) Nitto bars, with Campy Ergo 10spd shifters.

fietsbob

lose the 105 brifters , for the ones that use a bar end shifter in the brake lever front 'retroshift; Paul's Thumbies, Or in the back of the bars ..

or pack the bag load in the porteur rack to be narrower, for that needed lever tip-swing.



Pick what you put in the rack.. A soft stuff sack will push in easily when you push the lever tip inward. I suspect..

A Porteur rack can be as wide as your Drop bars are wide..

djb

with 4 or 5 year old tiagra brifters, there is no problem with shifting with my medium Ortlieb bar bag, not the same dimensions as what you have but at least a reference of what works fine on my 44cm bars. (Tiagra stuff also has open cables and even with them the bag only moves them a small amount and doesnt cause any binding at all)

I too concerned about this setup before getting this bag, but luckily a few people here gave their experiences and no issues.
I guess ulimately you have to get the measurements of the bag and then go from there with a cardboard cutout or something to see realistically if it will be an issue. I suspect 105 and Tiagra have similar throw of the levers, and you could at least look up the dimensions of the Ortlieb bag as a start to reference these bags you mention.

kreative

Great! Thank you all so much for your input and suggestions. Something that was brought up that I did not think about was handlebar width. I normally ride 42cm on my road bike, should I go wider (44cm) on a touring bike or stick to the same 42cm? TIA

kreative

wow, thanks for sharing these photos, they're great!

bmike

really depends on fit... i am broad shouldered, and just more comfortable on a wide bar. 46cm woodchippers on my fargo, 46cm cowbells on my indy fab. i was running 44 nittos on the indy fab prior to the cowbells, and a 44 bell lap before that. had 42s on my carbon/steel lemond - always felt too tight for me.

Nick The Beard

On the issue of brakes I'm going to reinforce the canti idea as you'll have less trouble making them work with the cable throw of your levers.

djb

I just actually measured my bars, and I was mistaken-- they are 42cm. I'm a slight guy and so they fit me well, but as I had mentioned earlier that I thought they were 44s, I figured I'd let you know that the Ortlieb M handlebar bag then works well with 42s with the Tiagra brifters and open cables.

sstorkel

I don't know anything about your rack. I use a Lone Peak H-100 handlebar bag with 40cm (center--to-center) 3T Ergosum handlebars and Ultegra 6600 brifters (the older ones where the cables exit from the side of the lever) with no problems. I can't put much in the H-100's side mesh pockets, but the bag doesn't interfere with shifting at all.

kreative

Thanks, is there a recommendation for affordable cantis? I read through some of the threads that recommend Pauls Neo front/touring rear, but it can get quite pricey. Also heard some recommendations on the Velo Orange Grand Cru's and Tektro CR720's. How do those compare to the Pauls?

kreative

Thanks for the input. I'll look into both of those bags for measurements for reference.

fietsbob

So you dropping the Porteur rack in favor of the handle bar bag and going with a support rack no wider than the bag itself? probably for the best..

sstorkel

As far as cantilever brakes go, I can tell you that Avid Shorty 6's are decidedly unimpressive.

In addition to cantilever brakes, maybe you should also consider 'Mini-V' brakes likes the Tektro 926AL, Paul MiniMoto, TRP CX 8.4 or TRP CX 9? I haven't tried Mini-Vs but in theory you get the benefits of V-brakes and compatibility with standard road levers. YMMV, of course.

djb

re cantis, whatever the cantis are that came with my tricross sport 2010 can't be fancy, but they seemed just ok with the stock pads, then after putting on some salmon coloured Kool-Stop softer pads, the braking action iimproved significantly (where as I couldnt really stop that hard using the interrupter brake levers before, with the Kool stops, the increased braking power meant these second set of levers stop very well)

bottom line, pads make a big difference in my experience with cantis, as with all brakes i imagine, so are something to consider just as much as the actual brakes. Softer pads and keeping crud off them and your rims will always mean stronger, quieter stopping, and rims that last a lot longer.

Nick The Beard

My CR720's with stock pads are working pretty damn good.

kreative

I would really like to have a Porrteur rack and bag. I'm just trying to see if I can do some test measurements for fit since I can't "demo" one.

kreative

I've heard good and bad things about mini-V brakes, but it seems most do not recommend on touring bikes.