Originally Posted by
RubeRad
My money's on the calipers. Levers are pretty simple, I'd think hard to mess up. But I know the Weinmann Vanquer centerpulls on my dad's old bike were (are) TERRIBLE
Originally Posted by
noglider
It's the calipers, not the levers, but I think you mentioned that your hands are having trouble reaching. You can mitigate that a bit by moving the levers up the bars a bit, but maybe they're also the wrong levers for you. Those calipers are pretty bad, though.
Weinmann Vainqueur brakes, if set up right, are not terrible!
I can't move the levers up the bars any further or they'll be parallel to the ground
But yes, I am having trouble getting my fingers around them - the reach seems to be a bit much from the hoods, and they're hard to pull in that position. If I am in the drops and can pull the levers like a regular grip - the brakes work pretty well. But riding in the drops constantly, and braking from there isn't really feasible.
The bike is a 54, and I should ride a 52, and with the rando bars already having a long top/reach on them, the setup just isn't working in general. So I think I'm going to switch to a Soma Late Riser bar, with these levers:
https://velo-orange.com/collections/...-22-2-dia-bars
I'll see how the calipers work in this setup and if braking still sucks I'll get some new brakes.
I was also considering a Velo Orange Porteur bar, or a Soma Mustache II bar, or a Soma Sparrow, but I'm not confident enough to buy one having never used any of them.