Problem Solvers "Travel Agent": Mini-Review

As a bicycle mechanic, I often run into "compatibility issues". No, this doesn't have anything to do with my inability to get along with people! This "incompatibility" usually is about bicyle parts. You know- you can not use 10 speed levers with 9 speed cog sets. That kind of incompatibility!

Well, there is a bicycle parts brand dedicated to this very issue of incompatibility between certain parts, and the desire to just "get everything to get along with each other". The company is "Problem Solvers", and it is part of the brands under the Quality Bicycle Products umbrella. This time I am going to look at a little doo-hickey they sell called the "Travel Agent".

The Travel Agent might look somewhat familiar to some of you "vintage" mountain bike folks, or to anyone that has been around tandem bicycles for a bit. (It is somewhat reminescent of an Avid Rolla-ma-jig, but it does more than that) The Travel Agent has been "around", (pardon the pun), but I wanted to feature it as a solution I just used a pair of Travel Agents for that might come in handy for folks looking in to using off road drop bars and mechanical disk brakes.

The situation is this: Off road drop bars do not support mtb diameter controls. Road bike brake levers/shifter units do not play well with mechanical disc brakes. Using off road drops may put you in a position where you want to use your existing mechanical disc brakes meant for mtb levers, but you will be using a road brake/shifter lever. Yep! That is an incompatibility issue that the Problem Solver guys have you covered on!

Last summer, when Problem Solvers honch, Joe Meiser, found out I was stuck in this scenario of incompatibility, he sent down a pair of Travel Agents to save the day. What the product does is multiply the cable pull that your road brake lever has to make it compatible with the mountain type mechanical disc brake, in this example, an Avid BB-7 Mtn model.

The road brake standard for cable pull is basically "low cable pull/high mechanical advantage" where as your mountain bike levers of today are "high cable pull/ lower mechanical advantage" Typically, a mechanical disc brake mountain caliper needs lots of cable pull to function effectively. That's where the Travel Agent made a big change with regards to how my brakes worked. I'll get into that in a minute, but first, I want to show how I set my particular example up.

I broke my cable housing using a cable housing cutter at the point where my housings exited from under my bar tape. I then chose to use a Jagwire cable adjuster, which tucks in nicely into one end of the Travel Agent as shown, so I can adjust my cable tension from the saddle if needed.

Note the way the cable housing enters the Travel Agent. There are two ways to use this device. One: You can increase the amount of cable pull, and route the brake wire as I have it shown here, or Two: You can route the housing in the upper position, route the brake, (or shifter cable), around the larger part of the pulley, and use the Travel Agent as a way to route a cable at a 90 degree bend without binding the cable feel.

In my example, I do a little bit of both in regards to how I set up the Travel Agent in the "stream" of my brake set up. Of course I wanted more cable pull, but I also took advantage of the routing possibilities. In the photo above, you can see plainly how the cable exits downward, pointing directly towards the front caliper.

Here you can see the way the Travel Agent directs my rear cable and housing cleanly around my head tube, saving the cable housing or the Travel Agent from scratching up my paint job. Nice!

Performance: The Travel Agent is pretty straightforward in its claim of increasing cable pull, and it works quite well in making my road lever compatible with my mountain mechanical disc brake. The feel is just like my flat bar levers, and stopping power is on par with those set ups as well. They don't rattle, and are quite unnoticed as I ride, which is a compliment to them.

The Travel Agent is a smart fix for the conundrum of road shift/brake lever-mountain mechanical disc brake use, or for mating up old cantilever type brake levers with modern linear pull, or "V" brakes on your mountain bike. I bought another Travel Agent to use for that exact "incompatibility issue" with a recent Xtracycle build.

These are well made, excellent performing "gizmos" if installed correctly. (If you are not handy with bicycle mechanics, have a qualified repair person tackle this one for you. Set up is critical to this products success.) I can heartily recommend the Travel Agent for these types of issues with brakes. They work brilliantly, and are cheaper than buying new road compatible mechanical disc brakes by a long shot.

Travel Agents come in an "in-line" version, where the entrance and exit for the cable is "in-line" with each other, or in the example as I have shown it it black or silver ano. Price for the Travel Agent as shown here is MSRP$18.00 each, and they can be ordered from your local bike shop or direct through Problem Solvers to be picked up at a near by dealer.

The Cyclistsite.com received the Travel Agents at no charge for review/test. We were not bribed nor paid for this review and we have given our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Comments

[MG]

Nice work good buddy! I've used Travel Agents on a number of bikes with great success as well, including on the front of my current 'cross racing bike, my Salsa Ti La Cruz. I use it to allow me to run a V-brake on the front with a road lever, thus allowing me to go cable hanger free on the front, but I like what you're doing in being able to run MTB-versions of the Avid discs with road levers, because I have to say that the mountain versions are far stronger than the road versions of the brakes, based on my experience with both types. I think I may acquire a set of those in-line TAs and try that setup out on my Fargo!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, my brother!

Cheers,
MG

[Vid]

Nice write up. I have a drop bar 29er with Tektro dropbar levers for mechanical disc brakes and bar end shifters. I have been wanting to change to a road brake/shifter set so it will be easier to shift so this solves one of my issues--the brake incompatibility. The other issue is the difference in actuation between Shimano road shifters and Shimano front mtb derailleurs. Would a road derailleur work with mtb chainrings?

[Matt]

"Would a road derailleur work with mtb chainrings?"

I'm running a FD-2203 with bar end shifters over a Hybrid chainset 48/38/26 with no problems. If you want to run a 44/32/22 or even 42/32/22 you should be fine, but you'll have to play with the height of the derailleur to get the smoothest shifting (it may be a bit higher than the recommended 1-2 mm)

If you want to run STI on the front, make your shifters have plenty of trimming stops as it seems that a wide range rear cassette (11-32) causes more chain rub than the 11-23 on my road bike.