V Brakes for Drop Bars...

[davepen]

Hi,
Im quite new to cycling but got given an old diamondback topanga (approx 1992) and me and a friend decided to take on a project of turning it into a road bike.

We have bought new brake levers and are keeping the old shifters. It has V brakes but when we connect the levers to the V brakes they don't really seem to pull very well, Only one pad touches the wheel rim and the other just seems to stay still. We have fiddled with it a lot now and nothing seems to work.

Would anyone on here be able to help us? Advice? new (relatively cheap) products?
Anything would be great.
Cheers
Dave

[DaveM]

V brakes won't work great with drop bar levers because they are designed for different amounts of cable pull. You'll need an adapter called a "travel agent v-brake" adapter.

It sounds like maybe you also have a problem with the way the brakes are set up though. They should still work without the adapter, just not as strong.

[davepen]

They do work kind of, they move correctly but just aren't very powerful! Thanks for your help

[Joe_W]

There are also mini-V-brakes that are used in Cyclocross, those are designed for drop bar levers.

[davepen]

ok thats cool... iv bought a travel agent for the front brake... but i can return it if mini v brakes are a better option?

again guys, cheers!