snowball123

Excited to soon be getting my hands on a set of Scott Super brakes and have a couple questions

Are they considered C and V?

The barrel adjuster on the front caliper is on the right side so that makes the cable routing from the non aero brake lever awkward and possibly hinder its performance? Haven't seen photos of the brakes set up on a bike on Google.

Planning on installing the brakes on a Vitus 979 with Mavic parts.

Thank you
Scott Super brake Front caliper

steelbikeguy

I would say that it is very much C&V. I saw a Graftek carbon fiber bike, circa 1977, shown at a large event in 2018, equipped with the Super brake. Very cool bike!





Steve in Peoria

top506

Can't stomach paying Mavic prices for Modolo/Dia Compe brakes? I don't blame you!

Top

snowball123

Thanks for the awesome photo Steve! Appears some versions of the Super brake have noodle adjusters for both F and R calipers and some only for the rear, my set is the latter and the cable routing will have a S bend to it 😒

snowball123

I have the Mavic brakeset by Modolo and may have to resort to them if by the off chance the Super brakes don't work out

scarlson 

OMG, like so much. YES classic, YES vintage, and YES they belong on your 979. This was a technologically advanced frame from the era and in the spirit of Concorde and Shinkansen and Saturn V and the Citroën SM. Like, profoundly weird old tech that just flies off some drugged-up '60s designer's drawing board and blows everything else away clear up to the '80s and we are still wondering how they did it because they don't make 'em anymore. The brakes go with that!

snowball123

Thanks for your favorable comments. I will definitely post some pics of the Vitus when the build is complete.

crank_addict

Looking forward to seeing the completed build and feedback how the brakes work. They have a very 'strong heavy duty' appearance. Below pic of the same bike noted above (at the CR event 2018) showing the Scott levers made by Modolo.

Interesting choice of brake though I probably would've considered CLB. They already had business concerns with Vitus and made the dropouts.

scarlson 

More than the dropouts! CLB's guy Paule Defour is on the patent! They were half of a joint venture that subcontracted and made damn near the entire thing!

Also mine says CLB on the bottom bracket shell. And sure, CLB brakes, Huret Jubilee derailleur, Stronglight BB/cranks, Hinault (Delrin) headset, and Mavic Argent 7 rims is the Français traditionnel way to build the bike up. And still affordable.

But like a Reese's Cup, there is no wrong way to build a Vitus. Here are a few fantasy builds followed by what I actually did.

1. I can envision going in a "crazy American" direction with Hi-E hubs (ano must match frame ano color), rims, and bottle cages, Superbrakes, Cool Gear Ti saddle, American Classic post (if you dare; I believe they did make them in that size), Avocet bars/stem, cranks, and some other bits and pieces, do whatever Campy or Suntour for the derailleurs but drill them out. This would be utter madness and probably result in the lightest bike, provided you could find a decent freewheel with smallish aluminum cogs. I think this is the coolest but I haven't got the money.

2. I can envision going in an Italianate direction, which would involve pretty much all Campy Super Record of some sort or other, but using Modolo Kronos carbon shifters and maybe brakes and maybe even drill out a Nuovo Record rear derailleur with aftermarket aluminum bolts and pulleys, and bars/saddle would be Cinelli, rims would be Fiamme gold. In spite of the rims being made of nothing, this would be heavy and in spite of this the Modolo parts and the rims would break after you looked sideways at them.

3. Of course if you have a lot of money, you can always do tout Mavic, but *yawn* seems like everybody does that. Which isn't to say it isn't cool and very lightweight.

4. How about "tout KCNC" ? Again, the ano must match the color of the frame.

Or you can follow your inspiration, which is what I did. This is the way to get the lightest for the cheapest, but the fewest people will understand. Mine weighs less than my cat, which is to say 17lbs, but lacks any driving force behind the creative aspects of the build other than "use what you have". I say, you don't have to follow some guiding star when it comes to builds, just listen to your heart (or your wallet or your milligram scale)!
Human contact: Cinelli bars and beat-up stem, Terry Ti Liberator saddle, Suntour Superbe pedals and brake levers
Front wheel: Some weird radially spoked front wheel using only 18 of the 36 holes of a Phil hub and corresponding rim (ran out of spare spokes)
Derailleurs: Suntour, only because Superbe stuff is beautiful and Cyclone M2 rear is only 20g heavier than Jubilee
Rear wheel: SRAM freehub laced to a Mavic Open 4 CD with weird 15/16/15 spokes (do not recommend, they twist a lot)
Drivetrain: KCNC chain (yes they make a chain, yes it's full of holes), Ultegra 9s cassette with alloy spider, which I think I found in the trash, Super Record crank/BB
Brakes: Dia Compe NGC450 with ball bearing pivots and MAFAC pads because the originals were missing - these are horribly designed but seem to work.

It's a hodgepodge, but it's a really fast hodgepodge. I really don't think about it, which is to say it works really well, somehow.

Do what you love! Your Vitus will be fast anyway.

crank_addict

^^+1

Back to brakes. I dig the obscure and the Scott products back when always made me take a second look. IMO, never elegant but all about brawn and getting the job done.

Lately I've been on the CLB kick. Brilliant designs, light weight and performance to back it up. Same era Campagnolo, Dia Compe (Suntour), Modolo side pulls are becoming a yawn.

snowball123

Received and installed the Scott brakes. The S bend cable routing seems gentle enough not to hinder brake performance, but we will see when the bike is done. Realized there is no quick release mechanism on the brakes so it will be an inconvenience when wheels need to be removed for service.