flat bar setup on a racing bike

[Chandler Bing]

Howdo. I'd like to use mountain bike type shifters & brakes on a racing bike. 9-speed, double chainset.
It seems the only thing offered is Shimano R-440. Maybe it's a stupid question, but why wont stuff like XTR, etc work?

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Shimano road caliper and mtb V brakes don't have the same cable pull requirement, the latter is much greater.

Similarly the same is true for Shimano road vs mtb front mech cable pull requirements. However while a mtb shifter will pull too much cable it will still work on a road front mech for a double chainset since the low gear is set by the limit screw not cable tension.

 

[Chandler Bing]

Thanks for the replies. So could i use the flat-bar brake levers, coupled with XTR shifters & rear mech. They would work perfectly?

 

[HLaB]

I've went the other way (putting drops on a flat bar road bike) and gear wise it works perfectly (tiagra) with new cables. Brake wise, flat bar levers pull twice as much cable as drop bar levers (which was pretty poor for me, I overcame this in part with problem solver travel agents) but I'm unsure how it would effect you, your new brakes would be too good ?

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Thanks for the replies. So could i use the flat-bar brake levers, coupled with XTR shifters & rear mech. They would work perfectly?

Yes, assuming the xtr rear shifter is for the same speed as the cassette of course.

Regarding flat bar brake levers you need to pick road specific levers. Mtb levers have low mechanical advantage (pull a lot of cable, but with little force) so braking will be vague, woolly and unsafe with caliper brakes.