johnnyd

Hi,

I'm new to this site. Can anyone tell me how easy it is to upgrade an older bike from cantilever brakes to V brakes? I just bought a shock fork for my old Bridgestone mountain bike. The only problem is that the new shock fork only accepts V brakes.

First question: Is there a cheap and easy way to retrofit the new shock fork so that it will accept my existing cantilever brakes?

Second question: If the new fork won't accept cantilever brakes, is it better to buy all new levers, etc. to go with the V brakes or should I get one of those travel agent adapters that allows me to use my old levers?

I assume either way that it will be difficult for somebody with no repair experience to do this himself, so how much should it cost to pay someone to do it?
Thanks for your help.

Johnnyd

seely

These are all questions that could be easily answered by your local bike shop, especially a price estimate.

But as for the travel agent, I would just get new levers. Less parts and adaptors and other junk = better.

roadfix

Perhaps you can find a brake booster/arch with a cable hanger????....if there is such a gizmo....

Raiyn

So long as you have your old cable hanger a pair of canti's will bolt on just fine.I'd suggest new leversActually it's not that hard
https://www.parktool.com/repair_help/...x.shtml#brakes

Retro Grouch 

Nope, not even close. The cable hanger on a suspension fork has to be mounted on the slider arch. Otherwise the brake adjustment will change everytime you go over a bump and the suspension moves up and down.

If your brake levers and shifters aren't combined, I would strongly recommend using linear pull levers as opposed to retro fitting a travel agent with your existing levers.

Retro fitting linear pull brakes isn't a very difficult upgrade. If you decide to go the travel agent route, however, the degree of difficulty is at least double.

Raiyn

Aww geeze. Ya got me. It's been so long since I've had one come through I forgot that tidbit. Oh well. In which case go with V's and new levers


At least I admit when I'm wrong

Retro Grouch 

I think that's classy.

sydney

Not the easy deal unless he has separate shifter pods.

Raiyn

Chances are decent on an old Bridgestone that he has thumb levers

sydney

Ah so........

pur1138

I did the same operation on an old Yokota mountain bike.
If you start trying to replace things without thinking it through first, it can be frustrating. Mine is a 7 speed with shifters and brake levers in one unit.
I went with the Travel Agent. I've got almost 400 miles on this set-up and haven't had to adjust or fuss with anything.
I left the canti's on the back since most of the braking power is in the front anyway.
Once you figure out exactly what the Travel Agent does, it's easy to set up.

Kevin

johnnyd

Thanks to all of you who have posted on my upgrade dilemma. I have a combined thumb shifter/brake lever setup currently on the old bridgestone. Therefore, it looks like the travel agent with V brake on the new front shockfork will do the trick nicely. I think I'll just leave the old cantilever brakes on the back wheel and throw on some new brake shoes to give it better grip.