V brakes With STI Levers

bikerbill

I was looking through the latest C+ today and in the women's section there was a nice picture of Cara's Surly Crosscheck with STI's and V brakes. So the question is, what are these V brakes that work so well with STI levers?

Bill

alfablue

I gather that Campag make some v-brakes that work with STI's (Mirage?), they had them on the Condor Heritage tested in C+ in June.

Bronzie

I think there is a gizmo you can fit (a cam roller?) that allows you to use V-brakes with road STI levers................it increases the amount of cable pull so the brakes operate correctly with the short throw that road levers actually produce.................try searching the tinternet for "v-brake adaptor".

alfablue

I think the item Bronzie refers to is a Travelagent:

I gather the Campag V's don't need one, so they would be more economical and probably more elegant

alfablue

Apparently, according to this

Caution: Campagnolo has officially not certified this product for racing brakes. The test reports (see TOUR 2006) show, that the Veloce V-Brake fits perfectly with racing calippers. In practice they fit with STI or ErgoPower calippers.

Obviously one would prefer a better source, but I have heard this before, and as I said above, Condor fit these to the drop-bar heritage tourer

alfablue

Carpe Diem is using the campag's with 105 shifters - see this thread

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... 2#14526672

Hugh A

The Campag. brakes are basically mini-V's as fitted to bmx bikes and similar are available from a few other manufacturers, like Tektro.

I have tried others but not the Campag. ones yet and my experience they work very well with drop bar levers, but -

when properly adjusted they can be so close to the rims that it is near impossible to undo the noodle to get the wheel out (with tyre inflated). This is a lot easier with Campag. brake levers/ergos as they have the release button which Shimano ones lack - normally having a brake release cam at the brake.

I can just get mudguards and 23mm tyres under the mini-V's but anything larger can be tricky as the brakes have shorter arms than full size V's - but they do work fine without 'guards up to 34mm 'cross tyres.

alfablue

Good info, Hugh