Converting flat to drop handlebars.

iainmoss

I am set on converting my flat-barred bike to drop handlebars. I ride 30 miles a day all on road with the majority being fast & open. The drag whilst riding on flats is p1551ng me off, hence the decision to convert.

The way I see it, my bike is pretty much a road bike with flat bars anyway, so putting drops on it won't be a stupid idea. (comments welcome!)

Bike: Specialized 'Sirrus Pro' (Carbon) '08.
Deralieurs (F/R): Shimano Tiagra/105.
Chainset: Triple
Brakes: V-brake.

My questions are:

1: Can I use drop bar levers with my existing v-brakes? I'm under the impression that cantilevers will need to be used.
2: Can I use Campagnolo shifters with my Shimano deralieurs?
3: What combined levers/shifters would you recommend for about £50-70? (I've seen Campag 'Xenon' levers for about £60)

Sorry if I am repeating someone else (as I expect I am). I have searched for previous posts but to not found anything useful!

Thanks!

roger_merriman

your only stumbling block could be brakes, in that V's have a different pull to "road" brakes or cantis this most common brake/gear shifters are the sti types.

whyamihere

iainmoss wrote:

1: Can I use drop bar levers with my existing v-brakes? I'm under the impression that cantilevers will need to be used.
2: Can I use Campagnolo shifters with my Shimano deralieurs?
3: What combined levers/shifters would you recommend for about £50-70? (I've seen Campag 'Xenon' levers for about £60)

1. No. The cable pull is different, they won't move the right amount which will cause problems.
2. See 1
3. Shimano Sora.

redvee

You can get mini V Brakes which were designed for use with brake levers with less pull then V levers. You can get round this by using normal Vs with a travel adaptor or similar gadget.

redddraggon

You can use campag shifters if you use a "Jtek shiftmate" also.

You could consider SRAM Rival shifters/Rival rear mech/10speed cassette - this would probably be the route I was taking if I was doing this conversion.

Campag/SRAM shifters give a tidier and more comfortable set up.

iainmoss

Thanks for all your help above.

I've decided on getting Sora levers and will replace the V-brakes with some cantilevers.
Changing deralieurs and cassettes isn't economically viable to me.

Iain.

robbarker

A couple of cheap left-field ideas:

These:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lkid/86/cid/ ... -18606.htm

Or fit tri-bars to your flats.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Profile-T2-Cobra- ... 240%3A1318

for example.

croggy

I converted my Spesh Globe nexus8 to drop bars with Campag Veoce shifters.You can use these Levers with V brakes as long as you keep the brake pad/rim clearances small,i.e. almost touching.That keeps the lever movement to a minimum.However I changed to cantilevers because imo they look and work better.

akcc05

v brakes will work with Campy and Shimano STI shifters, I have done that on my Sirrus, pull is not ideal and will feel loose, but as above mentioned, you just have to set the v-brakes right.

iainmoss

Thanks to all of you especially croggy & akcc05!
I've now got some cheap Bontrager drop bars as a trial, and just won some nearly new 105 levers on e-bay.
I look forward to seeing if I can live with the braking issue. :?

croggy

iainmoss wrote:

Thanks to all of you especially croggy & akcc05!
I've now got some cheap Bontrager drop bars as a trial, and just won some nearly new 105 levers on e-bay.
I look forward to seeing if I can live with the braking issue. :?

Good Luck

iainmoss

For those about to change their flat bars to drop bars but keep their v-brakes:

http://www.bikeplus.co.uk/cgi-bin/quiks ... iliate_id=

I've got mine but not made the conversion yet.....