V Brake Levers with Side Pull Calliper Brakes Compatible?

has anyone tried using v brake levers with side pull calliper brakes?
are they compatible?

cheers

I think so. I have used Dirty Harry levers with V.Brakes, cantilevers, side-pull calipers and mechanhical discs. But i'm probably wrong....

Yeah possibly. V-brake levers have a lot of cable pull (and therefore less mechanical advantage) compared to caliper levers, so you might find that your brakes need to be pulled really hard to come on strong.

But there's no harm in fitting them and see how they feel. The difference in cable pull is pretty small so they might be fine.

Yeah possibly. V-brake levers have a lot of cable pull (and therefore less mechanical advantage) compared to caliper levers, so you might find that your brakes need to be pulled really hard to come on strong.

^This

Sheldon says no go. But it should be workable. You wont need to pull your levers very far, just very hard. This is going to feck with the modulation of your brakes though. Would'nt bother me so much fixed, but I imagine it might be a PITA with a no slowing down alternative.

Why would you want to use V-brake levers?

It will work as in the brake will stop you but as stated you have to pull very hard and it feels completely shit. Just use some levers like these and you will have much nicer braking;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=34695

If your doing a build on the cheap, then use the old V-Brake levers you probably have kicking about for the time being.

it may depend on the brake combination, but even on the cheap I wouldn't do it. They feel bloody awful, or at least my combo of V Brake lever and Tektro canti brakes did anyway

I've just done it on a bike and it worked surprisingly well on the front but badly on the back.I guess it depends on each lever/brake

awesome, cheers guys.

the reason i wanted to know was cause i wanted a way of shifting gears (seven speed sti) and braking from the bullhorn handlebars i've got. thought the easiest way would be to get something like this..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260661359030&_trksid=p2759.l1259

if i try it out then i'll let you know how it goes.
thanks again.

luckily i'm only running a front brake so looks like this may work for my set up.

I've just done it on a bike and it worked surprisingly well on the front but badly on the back.I guess it depends on each lever/brake

^ if it were me and I was using bull horns, I'd use a barend shifter (or aero) + aero brake which clamps rather than plugs in.

slightly different question, but didn't warrant a new thread..

Can anyone recommend a hinged v-brake lever?
I can only find diamond back ones on the interweb, and I'm mucking around with my setup quite a lot at the moment and would like the flexibility of being about to remove brakes without taking grips off etc.

Claire, how about lock-on grip to make it easier (Scott's chocolate starfish one is just a mere coincidence)?

cheaper than trying to buy a hinged brake lever.

slightly different question, but didn't warrant a new thread..

Can anyone recommend a hinged v-brake lever?
I can only find diamond back ones on the interweb, and I'm mucking around with my setup quite a lot at the moment and would like the flexibility of being about to remove brakes without taking grips off etc.

I like this question. Also, I'd be willing to trade a brand-new speed dial 7 for one.

Claire, how about lock-on grip to make it easier (Scott's chocolate starfish one is just a mere coincidence)?

cheaper than trying to buy a hinged brake lever.

The other issue, is that my current v-brake levers dont slide over my mungo bars as the grip area is wider than the rest of the bar, so something that has a bit of give and flexibility on bars with weird bends as well.

Doubt you'll find a hinge clamp V brake lever, try looking for a split clamp one and you may have more luck. I would do the search myself but I'm on me phone.

Hmm, only split ones I can find so far are Avid and cost about 200 quid..

blimey, found some at halfords!

Those were the levers that Halfords fitted to my friend's bike with caliper brakes. Then they said that they replaced the brake cables but hadn't, they just cleaned the outers (they were the old ribbed type that aren't even in production any more). Then the misaligned the pads so that they scrubbed the tyre. Then they charged her £80 for the privilege of having worse brakes than when she went in. The worst thing was that it was the same Halfords where I used to be the bike mechanic. Sorry to threadjack.

It's a slightly ugly brake lever. If that bothers you it probably wouldn't be too hard to modify a nicer looking lever to fit onto a little alloy hinged clamp (like the kind people use for putting water bottle cages on their handlebars).

Found some more, look better.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=34553

Much better!

recieved these today, really nice quality and very lightweight - will put them on the bike and report back shortly.

I've used dirty harry levers and V-brakes with no probs.

^ Depends on how far apart your v brake arms are set and which type of V brakes they are i.e. hex or cati type pads.

On another note, I always place the spring in the highest slot, loosen the adjusting screws, making sure the the arms are 90 degrees (without the pads fitted), fine tune the rebound and then align and fit the pads last.