V's for Cantis?

[ryandood]

In a quest to find a bike that my picky father will ride (nothing more than cruising around), I have a brake question for you all. I was riding up my street at my parents house and saw a red bike with a "free" sign on it so I took it home. It's a (probably early 90's) Stumpjumper in pretty much perfect condition. The paint on this thing is nicer than my bike.

Anyways it has cantilever brakes and has the front brake cable coming through the quil stem. The geometry is too aggressive for him so I want to make the ride a bit more lax for him. I could get a new bar but it would have to be something pretty crazy, ie; bmx bar or something along those lines. OR, I could get a new stem and maybe bar. My question is; can I just slap on some V-brakes in place of cantis?

Thanks for any input you may have.

[SAR_boats]

you've got PM

[jeffj]

Yes, but since the frame and fork were not designed for the force that V-brakes generate, you may need to use a brace (looks like a horseshoe) to keep the posts from spreading as braking force is applied.

You also should check out the cable routing as you may need to figure out a good way to route the cable to the rear brake. There are lots of aftermarket doodads that can make this process clean and easy. Post some pics if you run into trouble.

When I first converted my 96 GT to v's the rear brake had less power than the canti's it replaced until I put the brace on and then... look out!

You'll also need v-brake levers.