On Monday, December 23, 2019 at 3:27:19 PM UTC-8, Jason Fuller wrote: > > The custom sounds amazing! I have pondered why the Compass/RH centerpulls > aren't used on any of the caliper-brake Rivendells. I understand the desire > to avoid rare / single source parts but the R Herse brakes are truly the > best of all worlds, unless you're heavily loaded / riding a tandem. >
There's nothing to prevent you from using bolt-on Rene Herse centerpulls <https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/components/brakes/centerpull-brake-with-backing-plate/> with any Rivendell that uses caliper brakes and have the correct brake reach requirement. It's trickier with the direct mount RH centerpulls <https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/components/brakes/centerpull-brakes/>, because they use braze-on bosses/pivots/studs that are Mafac-compatible, which means these aren't the usual cantilever ones and will need to be specially sourced. Other than customs and Ocean Air Cycles' Rambler, I've actually not seen such single-minded dedication to any particular brake. Not that it's risky per se (to the long-term usefulness of the bike) because brakes don't go bad; as long as the requisite pads remain available, we're good. I'm actually vested in this understanding, as I have two bikes with dedicated Paul Racer braze-ons. :) The problematic issue is cost. With such a specialized setup, Rivendell shouldn't let its customers source RH centerpulls separately, or they risk losing customers to competition that offer more brake options. RH centerpulls run $170 per wheel, so you're adding $340/bike for brakes alone. Even with volume discount, adding RH brakes is still going to bump up your cost by a significant percentage. With Rivendell trying to control costs to keep cash flow tenable and the bikes affordable, I don't believe going down this lane is prudent. It's best to go "commodity", and let the most ardent believers order customs! :) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0679d53b-d12c-43a5-a83d-751e5b2c61b4%40googlegroups.com.
