So, this morning, after reading a couple of new posts to my thread, re-reading the Sheldon Brown articles and watching the ParkTool videos, I decided that today was "brake day" for the Miyata! One way or another those brakes were going to be set up and adjusted. I didn't really get into it until lunchtime and I did have a few errands to run so it didn't really take six hours but I did just finish up a little bit ago (~6 PM)
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I believe I've ended up with a decent set up. Final test will be tomorrow when I "road test"! I started with the rear brakes as there was more room to work. With the knowledge gleaned from Sheldon Brown, ParkTool and the folks that replied with hints and tips, my initial plan was to strive for perfection. It didn't take me long to fall back on the oft stated "the enemy of good is better"! I'm anticipating the need for tweaking and hoping that I'll get that done in less than 15-20 years
. Against what may be the better judgement of many, I did keep all of the OEM components with the fixed-length straddle cable being an item in question RE: maximizing mechanical advantage of the system. Bikes have enough loose cable ends as it is, I didn't want two more
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Today's brake work was the last major hurdle in getting this bike road worthy. Sadly, as a mostly "fair weather" cyclist, it may be several months before I get to take it on a few day trips
. Thanks to all that commented with hints and/or tips. They were useful!