I have a question about brakes and what I might need to do about them My Stratus has some brake levers of uncertain provenance and lineage, hooked up to a set of Nashbar dual pivot long reach calipers squeezing Koolstop black compound pads. I used to use the salmon compound but tried the black and they stopped better in the dry so that's what I use now. If I squeeze the levers with all my strength I can get a pretty good decceleration, but the wheels do not lock. I used to just chalk this up to the rear wheel not unloading as much as my wedgie with caliper brakes.
 
Now when I ride Paul's EZ-1AX  I can lock up either wheel with 2 fingers, one finger on the back. No kidding I have to be super careful to keep from locking the back tire on Paul's old bike with the stock levers and brakes.
 
So, what's up? Am I running the wrong brake levers for caliper brakes and not getting the leverage I need to get the stopping power the law requires. I used to be able to lock up the back wheel on my old Raleigh english racer with single pivot side pulls and chrome steel rims, why can't I get similar stopping power from modern calipers running modern compound pads on aluminum rims?