Retro/Classic brakes for a tour.

[bikeworkshop]

I don't know if you've tried a modern 105 caliper and lever?
Of course these came about after Sheldon's demise, but not everything he says is true.

 

[grantoury]

I have Mafacs and they work well. A dual pivot side pull is far easier to set up and maintain though.

 

[dirttorpedo]

I've been using 60's Mafac Racer center pulls recently, working fine with Kool Stop salmon pads.
Mainly used from the hoods and I can stop from there using 2 fingers each side.
Might help that I'm using 80's Weinmann AG drilled levers and modern cables.

Sheldon Brown:
"Mafac calipers provide as good braking performance as anything made today, once the rest of the braking system has been brought up to date."

From https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/mafac.html

I was going to suggest Mafac Racers as well. I picked up a set for my Ellis Briggs, but I couldn't fit a cable hanger on the front so after testing it on the back I converted a set of Tektro dual pivots to exposed nut standard and have been running them. I did mount the rear brake for a while and I found the Mafac braking to be comparable to the modern dual pivot. If i ever buy a low enough profile headset that works on my Ellis Briggs (or get the fork modified) and allows me to run a cable hanger, I may swap back because I liked the look.

 

[Glug]

I was going to suggest Mafac Racers as well. I picked up a set for my Ellis Briggs, but I couldn't fit a cable hanger on the front so after testing it on the back I converted a set of Tektro dual pivots to exposed nut standard and have been running them. I did mount the rear brake for a while and I found the Mafac braking to be comparable to the modern dual pivot. If i ever buy a low enough profile headset that works on my Ellis Briggs (or get the fork modified) and allows me to run a cable hanger, I may swap back because I liked the look.

I had a similar issue - the head tube on my Holdsworth Cyclone is quite short so a hanger would have obscured the badge.
Resorted to the old trick of drilling the stem:



NB. the stem is hollow so there's 2 holes that meet
1) Top surface perpendicular to be threaded and take the adjuster
2) Bottom surface parallel to the head tube

Using a Tange Levin CDS headset which is about 33.3mm stack and is visually a copy of an old Campy.
Also using the long verion of Mafac Racer (from Ebay France) so I can fit 700c Mavic Monthlery Pro tubulars.

 

[dirttorpedo]

I had a similar issue - the head tube on my Holdsworth Cyclone is quite short so a hanger would have obscured the badge.
Resorted to the old trick of drilling the stem:

View attachment 843268

NB. the stem is hollow so there's 2 holes that meet
1) Top surface perpendicular to be threaded and take the adjuster
2) Bottom surface parallel to the head tube

Using a Tange Levin CDS headset which is about 33.3mm stack and is visually a copy of an old Campy.
Also using the long verion of Mafac Racer (from Ebay France) so I can fit 700c Mavic Monthlery Pro tubulars.

Great solution. I'm a bit leery of drilling my stem though. If my headset had a spacer I'd just replace it with a hanger. It is so tight you can't even fit a spacer between the nuts. I'm really surprised EB made the threads so short. I can't even fit a standard campy or Tang Levin headset. There is a shorter stack Tange that I think will work stack wise, but I'm not sure if my steerer is ISO or JIS. I need to get a better set of gauges.

 

[legrandefromage]

Please don't drill stems. There are 22.2mm cable stops that clamp around the stem and can be made to look as sexy as you want by polishing them

Please also get rid of that chainset, it gives me ptsd from all those Raleigh Elans that used them, they are very flexy and heavy, that nice frame deserves better

As for the braking, don't overlook 80's shimano single pivots - if they can fit, which I doubt - but they work really well

But when you do change the brakes, even the most basic period aero shimano, diacompe or anything non Weinmann lever, will be better and more comfortable on the hands

I have a similar age Elswick with Japanese Tange no. 5 cromo, Alhonga dual pivots and Shimano 500ex levers - perfectly decent braking with debadged Alex Rims wheels pretending to be older

 

[minor_LEGEND]

I don't know if you've tried a modern 105 caliper and lever?
Of course these came about after Sheldon's demise, but not everything he says is true.

What I was thinking.
There used to be some decent well priced, deep drop calipers by Alhonga bitd. I am a bit out of touch these days though. If I was putting my engineering hat on some modern calipers could have longer studding welded to lengthen the existing mounting threads.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Please don't drill stems. There are 22.2mm cable stops that clamp around the stem and can be made to look as sexy as you want by polishing them

Please also get rid of that chainset, it gives me ptsd from all those Raleigh Elans that used them, they are very flexy and heavy, that nice frame deserves better

As for the braking, don't overlook 80's shimano single pivots - if they can fit, which I doubt - but they work really well

But when you do change the brakes, even the most basic period aero shimano, diacompe or anything non Weinmann lever, will be better and more comfortable on the hands

I have a similar age Elswick with Japanese Tange no. 5 cromo, Alhonga dual pivots and Shimano 500ex levers - perfectly decent braking with debadged Alex Rims wheels pretending to be older

I googled around looking for these and came up with nothing. Probably using the wrong terms. Can you share a link to a seller please?

 

[Glug]

Here's one I found:
https://sprockets.uk.com/nitto-as-11-alloy-front-cable-hanger-22-2mm-for-1-quill-stem-with-adjuster/

 

[Woz]

You may be able to remove the headset locking washer and replace it with a Mafac or CLB hanger and run Mafac Racer centre-pulls that work well, and can be tweaked via the straddle wire length. For the rear, there is a Mafac hanger at the seat binder bolt.