I have a 58 Sam with 559s. Stopping power is just fine. I’m 190lbs and do road
and greenway riding (no off-road) on this bike. Wet braking is fine.
I run 44 Snoq Pass tires under the 559s with no fenders, no prob.
Speaking of fenders, the Paul’s would certainly allow wider tires with fenders.
I'm 6'7" and 300+, although I don't ride a Sam, but rather an older 650b
converted Riv with the R559 brakes. I think they work fine. If I felt
like I needed to stop more quickly I'd get some Kool Stop pads.
If I still lived in Oregon I'd probably look into a bike with discs. I
rode my 80s 10 an
Brett: As Will @ Riv explained it to me the main benefit of Racers is fat tire
clearance, which I can't answer for your application. I've used R559s and
Racers on several bikes and the braking difference was nil. The Tektros are a
good bit easier to set up because no fiddling with cable hangers,
I had a double top tube Sam with both those brakes at various times.
The Sam is a great bike, and if I had to sell all my bikes and buy just one,
I’d probably get a Sam.
The tektros were ok, but the Paul center pulls are awesome. Equal stopping
power to cantis, or at least any cantis I’ve had.
Friends,
I'm considering the purchase of a lightly used Sam Hillborne--the caliper
brake version. The only thing giving me pause is that it has been a while
since I had anything with caliper brakes. The long reach required would
seem to limit my options to the Paul Racer Centerpulls and the
T
