I want to start this thread in hopes of rebuilding the strong tech forum that was a major thread of ‘Cuda activity on the “old” (R.I.P.) version of this website. Please post any mods or ideas you have for customizing, modernizing, or improving our beloved bikes. No mod is too small, don’t downplay it, it could be someone’s solution to a problem. Let’s see your ingenuity and artistry!
(This might be redundant since I posted it on my A2L in the Members Bikes forum but this is where it belongs)
If you are looking to swap out your brakes from cantilever to v-brakes but don’t want to dump your shift/brake pods, take a look at your frame and you’ll notice that you don’t have cable stops to run your front derailleur and the rear v-brake. Before I forget to mention, you will need a pair of Travel Agents (see attached) to take up the cable slack that is created by using inline v-brakes. Jenson USA sells them for $16 each, they come in black or silver and have a cable adjuster if you desire. Okay, back to the cables… you will need to pick up a short length (a few inches at most) of nylon tubing (aka cable housing liner) from your local bike shop. That tubing will thread through the cable hole that your old cantilever brake cable went through. The front derailleur cable stop on the top tube will be your new v-brake cable stop. The front derailleur cable stop on the seat tube is rendered useless by this mod but the power of the v-brakes is worth it (IMO). You may consider get a brake booster for the rear seat stays, the v-brakes are powerful enough to bend your stays, so a brake booster solves that nicely. See the pics to illustrate what I mentioned above. If you have any questions, let me know, I’ll try to answer them.
Good luck!
-DON-
p.s. Here’s a link to Jenson USA:
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BR409Z01-Problem+Solvers+Travel+Agent.aspx
