V-brakes, SRAM duel gears - conversion to Drops?

[Bodhbh]

More noobie questions. Would like to convert my Airnimal Joey from flats to drops. It has V-brakes and SRAM hub/9 speed cassette mixed gearing.

On paper it seems I would need a V-brake shifters suitable for drops and some bar end gear shifters - this is the correct approach? Any other options?

 

[HLaB]

Funny enough I thinking about converting my Sirrus Flat bar road bike to drops and I've been recommended mini v's I don't know if this is an option for you?

 

[MartinC]

V Brake specific levers (2 choices DiaCompe or Tektro/Cane Creek, latter are the best) and Bar Ends is a good solution i.e. it will work fine.

Mini V's and STI's may work - it depends on several things:
- will they give you the clearance over the wheel you need (tyre size? mudguards?)
- will you get enough pad movement with the cable pull from the STI's? This depends on the height of the brake arms (both 85 and 90mm are common, smaller is better) and the height the rims are above the bosses (larger is better). If you can't you'll have to keep the pads adjusted closely to the rims all the time.

STI's and cantilever brakes will work. Old fashioned high profile cantis work best (e.g Tektro 520's). Fixing brake hangers can present problems though and you need to know how to configure the cables for efficient working (see Sheldon Brown).

I run Campag Mirage mini-V's and STI's on a Trek T520 fine. Other people with other bikes can't get V's and STI's to work acceptably.

 

[Bodhbh]

V Brake specific levers (2 choices DiaCompe or Tektro/Cane Creek, latter are the best) and Bar Ends is a good solution i.e. it will work fine.

Mini V's and STI's may work - it depends on several things:
- will they give you the clearance over the wheel you need (tyre size? mudguards?)
- will you get enough pad movement with the cable pull from the STI's? This depends on the height of the brake arms (both 85 and 90mm are common, smaller is better) and the height the rims are above the bosses (larger is better). If you can't you'll have to keep the pads adjusted closely to the rims all the time.

STI's and cantilever brakes will work. Old fashioned high profile cantis work best (e.g Tektro 520's). Fixing brake hangers can present problems though and you need to know how to configure the cables for efficient working (see Sheldon Brown).

I run Campag Mirage mini-V's and STI's on a Trek T520 fine. Other people with other bikes can't get V's and STI's to work acceptably.

Cheers, thanks for the detailed reply. By the sound of it, the initial solution is the lowest maintanance and most likely to work 'out the box', which is what I'm after (idiot proof). Current tyres are 24 x 1.5 marathons and may add full mudguards later, so I guess maybe clearance issues there.

 

[Bodhbh]

Funny enough I thinking about converting my Sirrus Flat bar road bike to drops and I've been recommended mini v's I don't know if this is an option for you?

Ta, just noticed your thread now in 'Beginners'.

 

[sjw]

More noobie questions. Would like to convert my Airnimal Joey from flats to drops. It has V-brakes and SRAM hub/9 speed cassette mixed gearing.

On paper it seems I would need a V-brake shifters suitable for drops and some bar end gear shifters - this is the correct approach? Any other options?

Greetings. Just acquired a Moulton with Scram dual drive,(as yours) and I'm having a problem with it, It rattles on rough roads in 2nd gear on the hub. Have you come across this problem yourself?

 

[jpembroke]

Mini Vs suck. They have to be run about a mm from the rim and even then they don't feel that positive. And you have to undo the cable to release the wheel. There is only one way to go: STis and canti brakes. Everything else is a faff and a pain in the a*se.

well, actually, that's not entirely true. You can go for the bar end shifters and a set of Dia Compe 287V levers that'll pull enough cable for your v-brakes.

 

[Bodhbh]

Greetings. Just acquired a Moulton with Scram dual drive,(as yours) and I'm having a problem with it, It rattles on rough roads in 2nd gear on the hub. Have you come across this problem yourself?

I only noticed noise from it myself when it wasn't indexing properly, otherwise I really don't know. They're pretty easy to setup, as there's a pair of yellow lines you move a bar between with the barrel adjuster which indicates the cables at the right tension (appologies if telling you how to suck eggs):

http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/DualDrive_Ins_E_12_02.PDF

Update on the experiment. It wasn't entirely sucessful, position of the bars didn't seem quite right, although it wasn't particularly uncomfortable. I think it's a problem when doing this, if you haven't got a reference point from riding drop bars b4 - you're not sure if the position just takes some getting used to or the frame geometry is such that it's not natural. However, the clincher was I just couldn't get on with bar-end shifters, particularly in traffic.

In the end the bike reverted to flats, it got eBayed due to lack of space and funds and I kept the dropbars and the shifters etc for some future project.