Reimagining a 1988 Merlin Mountain
- Thread starter pw_pw_la
- Start date
Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
Good job on making the Paul Racer work there.
br0qn
Retro Guru
happy to have helped!
I like an XT U, but that Paul looks so much nicer given everything else you've got going on. I need to see it in person now.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Build challenge for @pw_pw_la
Next build no Paul
Good luck
Sorry to curse your thread, but the Inn is dead and I'm drunk
And the one in the stand next might not get any Pau... No, wait, yeah, I'm moving some Touring Cantilever's from another build over to it, aren't I?
Hmmm. Well, then there's the one after that, the Ro...
Oh. Nope. That's getting the Racers I used for testing on this one.
Damn it.
Well surely...
Okay, maybe this one?
Yeah, that one should be pretty safe. I don't think I can find a justifiable reason to add anything Paul-made to that!
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Saturday!
Is this the addiction hotline I've called?
I'll be there. Got my swimsuit at the ready.
Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
Sorry to bring this insignificant matter but... how does the Paul Racer work on the bike? Better than the U shimano? I don´t care about looks.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Why does this question also sound like an insult?
Ha.
I do have a lot to say about how it works, tho. I just hadn't got around to that part yet!
Regarding the sleeve issue: I chose, probably somewhat controversially, to resolve this by removing material from the stud, rather than try to have a custom sleeve made. (My brief discussions with a machinist were promising, however he felt the likelihood of them lasting too long was slim, given how thin the material would need to be in order to fit over the studs and still work as a pivot inside the brake).
I have no reason to think this bike will ever not be in my possession (it means too much to me in the way it was built and who contributed to that) so I felt comfortable making the decision to alter it in this way. If I ever wanted, I could always have the studs removed and replaced with new ones to run a roller cam, or regular U-brake, I or could possibly have a custom shim made to fatten the existing ones.
Other than the sleeve, there were no other issues at all in terms of clearance, or pad positioning against and away from the rim. Everything worked and there was now ample clearance, with no annoying rubbing, for my tire of choice, even when hammering the pedals on a climb. It's tight back there, sure, but in a pleasing, track bike kind of way.
The brake functions really well, and stops firmly. It is, however, a little spongier than I would like. I plan to pay around a little with straddle length and further refine the spring tension to see if this can be improved, but it may well be that it's simply because of the flex in the ti chainstay. In which case, my other planned improvements are to try some high-end compressionless housing, as well as purchase or fabricate some kind of booster for it. Not a bad thing to have as a guard against damage back there, either.
I think both things will help drastically and I'll make sure to report back once I know for sure!
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