Originally Posted by cxwrench

I've always thought it was the orientation of the cable across the top of the brake arms, but I've been been working in shops since a little before V-brakes actually came out. I guess it would be more correct to say lateral pull...or horizontal pull. I do remember being told to only use V brake compatible levers at the time because they had greater cable pull but less leverage as the brake arms themselves were longer and thus more powerful/had greater leverage.