Flat bar to drops on a tandem, Braking/ gear change options

[martinn]

Hi All,

I have a thorn Voyager Tandem (Secondhand) which I would like to change the flat bars to drops. (Going for Salsa Cowbell)
what are my options for braking and changing gear

Currently is 8 speed and uses deore shifters, both front and rear mechs are Deore LX.
V brakes front and back
26" wheels running 1.75" tyre width
I was planning to change to 9 speed, only because I would then have three bikes in the household running 9 speed, which makes some sense.

So my first thought was to use SLI shifters, for that, I would need to change the gear cables- easy, and then change the brakes to Mini Vs or possibly cantis? Or could I keep the current V brakes (I appreciate there are travel agents available which might solve this problem)?
Next thought was Bar end shifters, and a set of V pull specific brakes, probably need just to change the gear cables.

What other options are there, and would I run into any problems with the Mini V option due to the width of the tyres I would be using?
Anything else I should take into consideration?

Many thanks

Martin

[Brucey]

shimano 'road' STIs won't work with your front mech, but you could add travel agents and make them work with your V brakes, or fit mini-Vs or cantis as you say. Not all 'road' front mechs (which will work with road STIs) will reach out over the big ring of an MTB triple, because road transmissions use a different chainline. Mini Vs won't always work with fattish tyres; but you can measure up and see how high the mudguard top is above the canti bosses....

Easiest route is brake levers for full Vs (tektro make some) and other shifters. Bar ends or thumbshifters maybe. 9s bar end shifters can still be bought OK.

Cables don't last forever, and are not expensive either; best change the lot IMHO.

cheers

[martinn]

Thanks Brucey,

Think I will go for the "easy" option. Bar end shifters and the brake specific for V brakes, been going round in circles trying to decide.

Martin

[Bez]

One additional point to note is that you'll want some form of cable adjustment for pad wear, and road levers don't have that. SJS sell a couple of types of V-brake noodles with inbuilt adjusters. Or an inline adjuster might work, though they're intended for gears: caveat emptor and all that.

My experience with mini Vs is that they're a faff to get wheels in and out of. And my experience with cantis is that I'd want something better on a tandem (though a self-energising rear would be a good option, and SJS have them for £5 a pop at the moment; I haven't seen a front one for many years, I imagine a surviving one in good condition would fetch decent money).

[Russell]

Make sure you don't end up with too long a reach. You may need to fit a very short stump neck stem or even a zero reach stem to bring the hands back to a sensible distance. It's not unknown to need to fit a reversed stem such that the bar clamp is behind the steerer.

R

[RickH]

If you haven't already committed to the Cowbells...

I've mentioned it elsewhere on here but when I converted my tandem to drops I did it by adding drop shaped bar ends to the straight bars & replacing the V brake levers with V compatible interupters & drop bar levers (in my case I have an Alfine 8 IGH & a suitable drop bar shifter alternative cost more than I wanted to spend). You can change the shape of the bars slightly depending on which way you point any sweep of the straight bars.

[BobSweet]

If you are anywhere near Manchester I have an old Cinelli drop bars with brake levers you can have. Needs cleaning up and a some scratch marks from removal.

bob sweet