I’m planning to put some On-one ‘midge’ dropped bars on my rigid mtb and would like to use some old Mafac drilled brake levers (from a road bike) that I’ve had knocking about for years. Am I likely to come across any probs using the levers to operate V-brakes?

Yes. The cable pull is all wrong. You might get it to work but pads will be very close the the rim, levers will come back to the bar and it will feel spongy. It will also be very powerful, possibly robbing control and modulation.

You may be able to just travel agent adaptors to adjust for the cable pull. However, they cost about the same as getting v compatible levers or short arm “mini” v brakes.

Thanks Onzadog – thought there might be a snag 🙁 Do you know if I’d be ok with road brake levers and mechanical discs. If I go down the mini-V route would I be restricted to tyre widths?

Mini v would be okay with most road tyres but don’t add a mud guard. Discs would work but remember they make road specific versions for me ers like yours. The best of the bunch is the avid bb7 road.

There is a widget that converts the pull of the levers of a road bike to that of a MTB which you attach to the Vs. It looks cumbersome but works (I used to have one on a set of Vs on my cross bike as mini vs wouldn’t let a set of mudguards fit under them.

EDIT Found a pic

Those are the travel agents I mentioned. Not sure how expensive they are now but not that cheap when I was last looking into all this.

Problem solvers are £20
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/problem-solvers-travel-agent-3058-p.asp

Mini v brakes are £10 per end…
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/genetic-mini-v-brakes—use-with-canti–road-levers-410-p.asp

Thanks a lot guys. I looked at these travel agents following Onzadog’s first reply. They’re about £18 each. I’ve also seen some V-brake levers that fit drop bars (Tektro make’em). I think I’ll go down the travel agent route as it will allow me to re-use my lovely Mafac levers and give me options for wider tyres. Cheers guys – I’ve learnt a lot tonight 🙂

I’m using Tektro BMX Vs on my cross/road bike- works really well.

Mini Vs working well for me. Don’t know why they’re not more popular.

Travel agents can apparently be a pita to set up but I found them relatively straight forwRd whm I do same as you want to a couple of years ago
Shame I only sold mine recently

Just to confuse things a bit. My long haul trucker has tiagra sti levers with old xt v-brakes and I don’t have a problem
Yes there is a fair amount of lever travel but I like that
I’ve not found a problem with control / modulation or the blocks sitting to close

If you have the parts to hand I’d try it before spending anything

Those Tektro/Crank Brothers drop bar levers are fine. Dia Compe also do a version.

I have both on my tandems. Buying again, I’d buy Tektro. A quick Google reveals they can be had from Merlin for £18 a pair.

If you are running singlespeed then a pair of Dia Compe DC 287V’s will work with conventional V’s and look better than Travel Agents. If not, I’d switch to mini-V’s.

As above, you can run them with conventional levers, but it’s not optimal. This was a big problem for tandems before disks.

I’ve got Shimano 105 sti levers with Campag Mirage vs – the only problem is that the brakes sort of lose adjustment sometimes and rub one side or the other – but that is not down to the levers. Otherwise they work fine. Good on you for re-using your existing equipment, I like to do that too – especially if you have something particularly nice.

Just had a thought – is it an easy job getting the front wheel in and out when using Travel Agents? I wouldn’t want to be faffing about every time I get the bike in and out of the car. I would hope it’s as easy as flicking the noodle on conventional Vs.

Why would you choose Travel Agents over the Tektro levers (don’t consider the Dia Compe ones. The quality is poorer and they’re twice the price)?

Unless there’s a compelling reason to use your existing drop bar levers, just buy a pair of Tektro’s. They even have a QR built in for getting the wheels out.

Good point, I forgot to say that I’ve got barrel adjusters inline on both front and back so I can back the brakes right off to get the wheel out/adjust the brakes if the pads wear on a rainy ride. I have seen men squeeze the calipers together in order to release the noodle, but my hands are not strong enough – hence the adjusters (mountain bike style brake levers have these on the actual lever – as you no doubt already know).

Got a pair of the Dia Compe levers for sale if you are interested.
Andy

Why would you choose Travel Agents over the Tektro levers

The only reason was to re-use my 1980s Mafac levers. Perhaps the Tektro levers would be the best solution as you suggest. There’s always a trade off. So it now looks like On-one ‘Midge’ bars with Tektro V-brake levers and bar end shifters, and using existing XT Vees. Success guaranteed…

Why not try them and see? Then you can decide whether you need some mini v’s