Wressen

I´ve ordered a VO crazy bar and I would like to have TT bar end brakes in the bull horn section. But there does´nt seem to be any kind of those that works with v-brakes.

I will have good brake levers on the handlebar section, but would like to have brakes at the bull horn section as well. So how bad does standard levers brake v-brakes if you adjust the pads very tightly against the rim? It wont stop, or it feels weird, stops a little??

dabac

For a set amount of hand effort and lever stroke, Canti/caliper brake levers pulls less cable with more force than v-brake levers.

For the front, I've been reasonably happy with that combo.

You need to run pads close to get them to engage well before the lever bottoms out against the bar.

You need to use good quality housing etc and to do a good job at the install.

If you do, stopping power can be good.
One might even say improved.

Some complain that the (excess) power makes the brakes feel mushy.

True, in a way, but I've never thought about that while riding.

But maybe I judge brake performance from what happens to my speed more than by how the lever feels.

For the rear it's trickier.

The longer cabling run means you lose more travel from taking up the slack in the system, making it difficult to keep the brake in that sweet spot between running free when disengaged and good braking before the lever bottoms out against the bar.

This is why I've eventually changed those bikes over to matched levers.

I've been tempted to try it with some Nokon-style cabling. Maybe that'd be enough to make it fully useful.

How are you planning to hook two levers to the same brake?

Retro Grouch 

If you adjust your pads in real close to your rim, how are you going to remove your wheel when you get a flat tire?

Andrew R Stewart 

The OP has chosen what's a really bad combo of parts. As mentioned, linear brakes require a lot of cable pull to operate well. But besides the short cable pull of the caliper intended bar end TT levers is that they also have the least lever range of movement for any caliper intended lever. Even with some well matched set ups these levers can be less then ideal in actual braking adjustments and performance. But then what would you expect from a component that isn't intended to work well but instead to maintain the rider's aero position. To use said component in daily/general riding isn't a priority of the manufacturer, unless your daily riding is training for your event.

One possibility to improve the miss match is to try a Travel Agent cable pull adapter. Andy.

dsbrantjr

This will be especially challenging when mixing two brake lever styles with different cable pulls.

fietsbob

You just remove the wheel, (by being flat, tire not in the way) once you patch the Tube , put the wheel back IN, and when it's back In ,

Then you pump up the Tire.

fietsbob

all 4 levers not V brake ? add a Problem Solvers 'travel agent'

nfmisso

Totally VERY BAD.

Look for some Tektro RL740 (24mm bars) or RL741 (31.8mm bars) interrupter levers; there is a dealer on ebay or SJS Cycles.

79pmooney

Try using the regular levers with the V-brake calipers and see if it works. (I suggest doing it before you tape the handlebars.) If you can do it, get both an inline barrel adjust and a quick-release or two somewhere on the cable runs since cable length will be much more critical. Too much cable stretch and you will be bottoming out on the brake levers and not stopping. And it may take more than one quick-release to give enough cable slack to make wheel changes easy.

I've been using V-brake levers and dual pivot calipers the past few years. (The opposite extreme.) I do it to get the huge V-brake lever hoods which my hand love and knock down the braking power on my fix gear. Makes hard braking from the drops far more predictable (and in real terms, it makes for much faster stops). That setup has pista bars and I spend much of my time in the drops. Braking power is actually a drawback.

Ben