On Tue, 2009-06-02 at 10:09 -0700, b hamon wrote: > Okay. I've selected the VO fenders. Measuring them against my existing > brakes it will be an EXTREMELY tight fit. I may be compelled to switch > over to center-pull brakes, not my favorite in terms of on-the-fly > adjustment. So far all I've been able to snag around here are a pair > of the long-reach Dia-Compe 750's, which I guess will work (though the > pads will sit high and there will be a LOT of metal underneath). > > I don't have the budget to add braze-ons to my ten-year-old frame (for > center-pulls OR cantis). Has anyone used these without brazing to the > frame? Are they any better than the center-pulls of my youth? Is there > another option which would work better in a similar price range? > (Finding these used has gotten much harder since folks began doing > 650b conversions with them...) >
Pretty much, they are the centerpulls of your youth. However, if yours didn't work very well that probably wasn't the fault of the brakes themselves, because as brakes they're just fine. Cables and housings weren't as good then as they are now, and (unless you were an early Salmon adopter, either with Kool Stops or Matthausers) brake shoes definitely weren't as good as they are now. Plus, most of those centerpulls were set up with sucky levers with "safety assist" aka suicide levers. All in all, you didn't get much of the potential of those brakes. I'm surprised you aren't simply awash in Mafac Racers. They came on so many trash 10-speeds. And yet, aside from the sucker pads, they're splendid brakes -- good enough to be used on Rene Herse and Alex Singers, and on Peter Weigles today. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
