The Vintage Brakes Thread

[vcballbat]

By increasing the angle over 90° you are increasing the horizontal force making the load want to implode or fold in on itself. The extra lever travel shouldn't be confused as feel... it's flex.

 

[mdvineng]

You use less force at the brake lever giving less than you are thinking, it's all about feel. Yes you can overload it if you pull hard enough but you shouldn't be or need to, hence the one finger tip! All it's doing is changing the leverage ratio, allowing the one finger tip to do the work. Before you overload it the braking effect will be maxxed out anyway and adding more is futile and could lead to failure as you say. Knowing what you have setup up and how it works is everything.

 

[vcballbat]

Okay...tell that to the twat in the Audi that's just pulled out in front of ya . When the shit hits fan I'm gonna pull that lever for dear life..

 

[mdvineng]

Oh dear

 

[dirttorpedo]

Audi drivers!

 

[Old Ned]

What happened to the Mafac Tiger and TOP63 brakes? I can only remember seeing one pro using the Tigers (no idea who now) and similar with the Top63. Hailed as the next big thing in braking technology they seemed to fade away quietly - and the Racers kept on going.

 

[non-fixie]

What happened to the Mafac Tiger and TOP63 brakes? I can only remember seeing one pro using the Tigers (no idea who now) and similar with the Top63. Hailed as the next big thing in braking technology they seemed to fade away quietly - and the Racers kept on going.

I have a "Tiger" set, and while they are pretty, their vertical adjustability is limited, which renders them useless for many bikes that would happily take the "RACER". Also, the straddle has a fixed length. which might not suit your preferences. Lastly, they used proprietary pad holders, which they share only with the - even rarer - "TOP-63".

 

[dirttorpedo]

Tange levin is 33mm stack

Well this is getting frustrating. I bought a new low stack headset and couldn't get the crown race mounted. I'm starting to worry that I've got a frame designed for JIS and not ISO headsets.

 

[mdvineng]

You need to measure the bearing seat to tell

 

[dirttorpedo]

You need to measure the bearing seat to tell

Yup. I cheaped out when I bought my calipers and can never be sure I'm reading them right. I think I'll splurge on some digital ones and check it again (my measurement looked like 26.4). The current headset is an old Tange Falcon. No idea what sizes they come in. I got fed up and reinstalled it and hung the bike on the wall and moved on to a drop bar mountain bike conversion project.