>>1169723V-brakes use longer cable pull, so to make them work with traditional/standard pull levers you have to run the brakes with the pads starting very close to the rim, sacrificing modulation. So no, what that guy did was not a good fix.
What that crappy mechanic should have done was to either install a different set of cantis or get a travel agent pulley that allows v-brakes to work with standard levers (pictured). I would suggest new cantis (or mini-V's) personally, travel agents are fiddly to set up and tend to wear out cables.
>>1169736Yes, you could swap in a slightly smaller chainring without any problems. But really, going from 36 to 34 isn't much of a change - I'd suggest switching to a cassette with a 32t cog instead, you can do this without the cost of replacing your derailer if you add a wolftooth roadlink.
