Ben M
Senior Member
- Location
- Chester/Oxford
I recently purchased a Dawes tandem of 1997 vintage.
It's an absolutely beautiful bike, and I'm chuffed to bit with it, such a sexy blue!
The only issue with it is the brakes; it has cantilevers. Cantilevers I can just about put up with on my hack bike, but on a tandem with ~125kg of people + touring gear + my desire to live, the stopping power just doesn't cut the mustard!
The current setup is flat bars with Shimano Deore LX (1997 vintage remember) levers with built in shifters and matching dérailleurs, with 21 gears.
Now I know that canti levers don't pull as much cable as V brake levers, so whilst changing the brakes themselves is a straight swap, new levers will be needed, which also means that new shifters will be needed
Now my question is; what shifters are compatible with my dérailleurs? I am looking to buy used, as I don't want to spend a fortune on this.
I've found online some "shimano ezi-fire shifters st-ef29 ci-deck 7 speed pair" which are V brake levers with shifters built on, would these work with my dérailleurs? So the only other components I would need are V brakes themselves.
The other thing is that the bike has flat bars, I find drop bars much more comfortable. I think that if I am to be changing the gear shifters and brake levers I may as well go the whole way and change the handlebars as well to something better for me. If I were to change to drop bars, would levers like "shimano rsx 7 speed STI shifters" work with my dérailleurs? What brakes would work with these; would V brakes work or would I need to change to calipers like on a road bike?
The other avenue of possibility is that I'm not limited on a tandem in the same way that someone on a "half bike" is, in that I have a second person with their own set of handlebars. This fact is used by some tandems which have an extra brake, usually a drum brake, fitted to the back wheel which is operated by the stoker. Now, am I right in thinking that to fit a mechanical disc brake to the rear would require buying a lever, a rotor and the brake, as well as a new hub (i.e. taking the wheel apart) as well as getting a bike shop to braze a fitting onto my frame (it's reynolds 531, and I gather it would cost £50 for this brazing + paint) What about fitting a rear drum brake? Would that require the same, less the brazing, i.e. a new hub, brake and a lever? I think this sort of solution isn't really the best price/benefit ratio though to be honest.
It's an absolutely beautiful bike, and I'm chuffed to bit with it, such a sexy blue!
The only issue with it is the brakes; it has cantilevers. Cantilevers I can just about put up with on my hack bike, but on a tandem with ~125kg of people + touring gear + my desire to live, the stopping power just doesn't cut the mustard!
The current setup is flat bars with Shimano Deore LX (1997 vintage remember) levers with built in shifters and matching dérailleurs, with 21 gears.
Now I know that canti levers don't pull as much cable as V brake levers, so whilst changing the brakes themselves is a straight swap, new levers will be needed, which also means that new shifters will be needed
Now my question is; what shifters are compatible with my dérailleurs? I am looking to buy used, as I don't want to spend a fortune on this.
I've found online some "shimano ezi-fire shifters st-ef29 ci-deck 7 speed pair" which are V brake levers with shifters built on, would these work with my dérailleurs? So the only other components I would need are V brakes themselves.
The other thing is that the bike has flat bars, I find drop bars much more comfortable. I think that if I am to be changing the gear shifters and brake levers I may as well go the whole way and change the handlebars as well to something better for me. If I were to change to drop bars, would levers like "shimano rsx 7 speed STI shifters" work with my dérailleurs? What brakes would work with these; would V brakes work or would I need to change to calipers like on a road bike?
The other avenue of possibility is that I'm not limited on a tandem in the same way that someone on a "half bike" is, in that I have a second person with their own set of handlebars. This fact is used by some tandems which have an extra brake, usually a drum brake, fitted to the back wheel which is operated by the stoker. Now, am I right in thinking that to fit a mechanical disc brake to the rear would require buying a lever, a rotor and the brake, as well as a new hub (i.e. taking the wheel apart) as well as getting a bike shop to braze a fitting onto my frame (it's reynolds 531, and I gather it would cost £50 for this brazing + paint) What about fitting a rear drum brake? Would that require the same, less the brazing, i.e. a new hub, brake and a lever? I think this sort of solution isn't really the best price/benefit ratio though to be honest.