flat bar brake lever for old caliper style brake

[duanelr]

Hi all, I have an old Trek road bike with Tektro caliper style brakes. (google shows these are caliper style, not v-brake or cantilever style...???) 

 

I want to replace the drop bars with a flat / straight mtb handlebar. 

 

Question: Which brake levers can I use with these caliper style brakes? 

 

(I read somewhere about long pull and short pull but still not sure. )

 

Links to locally available brake levers would be awesome, even 2nd hand ones.

 

tia

[Paul Ruinaard]

Hi all, I have an old Trek road bike with Tektro caliper style brakes. (google shows these are caliper style, not v-brake or cantilever style...???) 

 

I want to replace the drop bars with a flat / straight mtb handlebar. 

 

Question: Which brake levers can I use with these caliper style brakes? 

 

(I read somewhere about long pull and short pull but still not sure. )

 

Links to locally available brake levers would be awesome, even 2nd hand ones

You can replace with any V Brake lever which was used on an MTB. I have some CX bike ones which i had extra but they aren't the right design. there are thousands out there as everyone rode with V Brakes for years.

[CAAD4]

Check out rookcycles.com. They are Cpt based. They have left and right options.

[duanelr]

You can replace with any V Brake lever which was used on an MTB. I have some CX bike ones which i had extra but they aren't the right design. there are thousands out there as everyone rode with V Brakes for years.

 

Hi Paul, thanks for the answer. 

 

These are V - brakes , right? 

 

Read somewhere that some brake levers won't work on some brake designs. 

 

But okay cool, I'll get my hands on a pair of V-brake levers. 

[Paul Ruinaard]

Hi Paul, thanks for the answer. 

 

These are V - brakes , right? 

 

Read somewhere that some brake levers won't work on some brake designs. 

 

But okay cool, I'll get my hands on a pair of V-brake levers. 

Yep those are V. THe other older version are cantilever but they are unusual these days -only on CX bikes You can do some googling but really what you are worried about is the cable take up rate or actuation. Older bikes were pretty much on a par. So your Shimano V Brake levers worked for road brakes. You also have single and double pull calipers but those ones are single pull. So a set of normal VBrake levers should work fine.