Wanted Shallow drop steel calipers

[walkmanman]

Righto, although I'd have thought there would always have been close clearance bikes in one form or another, especially as there seemed to be 'purist' racing bikes around back then where I'm sure the designers would have seen the advantage in getting rid of mudguards/clearance if only to save weight, just the same as chaps would take along lightweight wheels to TT races in the 50s (and earlier?) and swap over their everyday wheels for these before doing the TT event? But perhaps these machines were really for the professionals/real bike enthusiasts, and so there just weren't enough of them around to necessitate putting shallow drop steel brakes on the market before the shallow alloy ones came into existence. And, as you mention, perhaps the above guys all had the Resilion brakes, with there never being other brands competing by bringing out caliper brakes that could do the same trick because of the shortage of demand.
So, all in all, I guess you realise that you're after genuine hen's teeth in the form of steel brakes like those you're after The only good news is that for 1 1/8" tyres, if you had modern tyres in this size (they do exist, I've had some!) then you'd be able to pump them up to high pressures and avoid the 'snake bite' punctures I mentioned. But anyway, I can still keep a lookout for the Grip-It brakes, but as I mentioned I reckon they're pretty ordinary brakes so not much chance they'll have the drop that would have been pretty exotic or the time.

 

[pigman]

Do you think your frame was a pure race frame and designed for continental 700c tubs and you now putting 27" wheels in has forced it to be very close, out of character with what would have existed then?

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

This could be a cheap option until something of higher quality comes along. 2mm out on the shortest reach though. On eBay now for only £12.50. I think you’ll pass though