DC 287V long pull brake levers

[ChuckB]

I am in the process of converting my Sam from Choco bars to Noodle drop bars. I bought the Dia-Compe DC 287V brake levers from Rivendell to use with my V-Brakes. It came with two noodles (one with a cable adjuster and a smaller one without) for each brake, which confused me. Rivendell didn't have any explanation on their product page of how each is used or even if both are needed. Only after searching the internet (probably should have just called Rivendell!) for over an hour did I find a somewhat definite statement of how to use them, so I'm posting that here. Maybe this is obvious, but I have only installed modern Shimano Brifter brakes before, so this was very confusing to me.

So, the noodle with the cable adjuster is used in its normal manner on the V-brake itself, which was not a problem. The smaller noodle was really the confusing one, and it actually needs to be installed into the brake lever before installing it on the handlebars. The pictures show how it fits. It is necessary so as to have a smooth low-friction cable run from under the hood. I had installed the cables and housing without using this noodle and could not get the brakes to return to neutral. The smaller noodle fixed this. Hope this is helpful to someone!

[JohnS]

Thank you for sharing Chuck, good to know.

JohnS

[John Bokman]

I'll be interested to hear how you find the feel of the brake levers, and how they work with your linear pull brakes. They look like the Shimano Tiagra brake levers that Riv sells (and that I've been using for years). Thanks for posting this.

John

Oregon

[ascpgh]

Kudos for that part being included.

I used those levers on my early Karate Monkey before the small noodle was included; the housing stop was inside the back of the lever body, like other aero levers. 

Routing the housing into the back of the 287V lever,  avoiding an angle of departure by the cable from the housing was a toil. Over time, the housing would migrate and recreate a harsh angle for the cable from the end of the housing, despite what seemed like strong steps to secure its position beneath bar tape for smooth operation. Always felt grinding while taking up cable and when reaching high effort upon pad contact, they felt like I was pulling a rope over an edge. 

I my shop days, we always had several Dia Compe small part bins (from BTI?) that included mystery bits that I'm positive included noodle stops for aero levers that went unconsumed since "everyone already knows how to route housing to aero levers".

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

On Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 11:57:15 AM UTC-5 ChuckB wrote: