ChrisAlbertson

I have a 1980's road bike, it's a nice double-butted chromed frame with 27" wheels, 1.25" slick tires. However, the brakes are not great. They are "Universal" brand center pull. I want modern double-pivot brakes that work better on hills.


I use this bike on the street for general riding and conditioning. I have a nice route that goes along the beach, and then over a 1,100-foot tall hill, So I do see some extended downhill.


I need brakes that have enough reach for the 27" wheels, have power and control good enough for a 1,000 foot of downhill road and, this is the hard part, don't cost more than this old bike is worth.

hokiefyd 

Welcome. It's going to be hard to suggest a brake without knowing the reach you need (a specific measurement: the distance between the brake mounting hole on the frame to the pad contact surface against the rim). A 27" (630mm) wheel will require a shorter reach than a 700c (622mm) wheel, but "short" and "long" are subjective terms without any real meaning. Measure the required reach at the front and rear brake and then use that to determine the right caliper for you.

Sheldon Brown.com offers a page showing some common examples of brake calipers in different reach ranges: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brake-calipers.html

Instructions for measuring the reach are also provided there: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/calipers.html#reach

hokiefyd 

As a follow-up, what pads are you using in your Universal centerpulls? Any brake can be made much more effective with new high quality pads. Many people cite the braking action of centerpull brakes that are setup correctly and that have fresh high quality pads as matching any modern dual pivot caliper. At the very least, I would opt for some Kool-Stop pads for your centerpulls, if you haven't done so already. Ideally, get some that use the same mounting style as a dual pivot you would otherwise consider so, if you're still not happy with your centerpulls, you could use the Kool-Stops in your new calipers.

Wilfred Laurier

I am glad people have such optimism regarding old centre-pull brakes, but my experience does not agree with this. I believe cheap dual-pivots are superior to any old centre-pull.

The two details you need to know are the 'reach' and the attachment method.

The reach is calculated by measuring the distance from the centre of the braking surface of the rim to the mounting point for the brake at the firk crown or brake bridge.
See the information in this link under the heading 'reach': https://www.sheldonbrown.com/calipers.html

The other thing you need to know is if you require an external or recessed nut on the back of the fork/brake bridge. Most old centre-pulls have a nut, but there may be some with a recessed nut. If you fasten the brake with a wrench then it is a nut, if you use an allen key, it is recessed.

Andrew R Stewart 

A few comments-

27" tires are speced with a fractional nomenclature, so the 1.25" is better stated as 1 1/4". Why is this important? Consult any tire/rim dimensional charts and you'll see that the difference between a decimal and a fraction is the difference between the tire properly fitting the rim, or not.

The Universal drop bar brake levers that came on many 1960s/1970s bikes have about the least mechanical advantage. So if a suitable caliper replacement isn't found consider changing to levers with greater leverage.

As, too, the brake pads that came on those Universal center pulls don't hold a candle to modern compounds. Back in the day the first thing we did for Universal customers was to install a set of Scott Mathouser pads.

Cables are often overlooked. But a lot of force can be trapped by cable friction. Modern redrawn cables running in casings with low friction liners can make a big difference, especially with modulation.

I'll leave the center pull VS dual pivot side pull argument for others to take on. Andy

dedhed

A common one used on C&V bikes is Tektro R559 long reach. Can be purchased nutted or recessed. As previously noted, measure your reach.

https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=45

https://www.amazon.com/Tektro-R559-C.../dp/B006Z0OVWC

ExPatTyke

Another vote for Koolstop brake pads. I've got a couple of bikes with centre pull brakes and steel rims, and the Koolstop pads make a huge difference, especially in wet weather.

One bike has Mafac Racer levers and calipers, the other has Weinmann; the Mafac set up is better albeit only slightly.

Moe Zhoost

Hi Chris, welcome to BikeForums. If I were you, I wouldn't give up on the centerpulls without trying out some new pads and perhaps cables, too. If you are committed to double-pivot calipers, Tektros are great. Keep in mind that a modern brake caliper will use recessed mounting nuts. If your bike uses the non-recessed, you'll have to make some modifications.

dedhed

You can also get the bdop drop holders. They are pricey, but work well.

https://bdopcycling.com/product/bdop...rs-set-silver/

ChrisAlbertson

To answer questions: Reach is about 56 mm and the brakes are mounted with an exposed locknut that fits a 9mm socket. I may switch to a recessed mount to allow a wider selection of brakes.

Ironfish653

I did a similar conversion on my '76 Bridgestone. It had the Dia-Compe version of that same center-pull brake. It had been abandoned for a couple decades, and while it was functionally complete, it would have taken far more time and probably more cost to refurbish the original brakes than to bolt up some modern dual-pivots.

I believe the reach on that bike was about the same as yours, I used the Dia-Compe BRS-101 caliper, which is popular with the SS/Fixie crowd. IIRC they were ~$40 from Am@zon.
Don't be afraid of doing a recessed mount conversion, You only need to enlarge the hole by about 1mm to fit the nut in, and only do the back side (where the nut goes)
Most mid-range 'ten-speed' era bikes should have more than enough material around the brake mounts to do this.

dedhed

If it's already set up for recessed mounting, no big deal. If it isn't, drilling the fork for recessed nut mounting is easy, rear brake bridge, not so accessible. I normally do it with a short bit in a small vice grips. Paint the hole after to cover the exposed metal.

Gresp15C

Here's a Tektro R559 on the rear of my Schwinn Sprint frame with 27" wheels, to show how I adapted the recessed nut. Pardon the grit, it's winter, and I haven't adapted the fenders to this frame yet. I had to bore out one of the two saddle washers, and halfway through the brake bridge. All of the parts on this bike were transferred from another frame whose fork broke, so I had a bit of fiddling to do. I've honestly found no difference between the Kool Stop pads and Jagwire Basics, but whatever, it's not a lot of money either way, and anything is better than old glazed pads. I'm in agreement with Andrew R Stewart about getting the rest of your brake system right... might as well do that and see if you really need new brakes.

ironwood

I agree with Andrew Stewart's comments. Centerpulls got a bad rap partly because they were not properly set up, and had lousy pads. There are still some cyclists who still prefer them.

By the way, what kind of bike is it?

Jeff Wills

You don't have to do that. I put Tektro R559 brakes on my Schwinn Superior resto-mod. (Build thread here: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-superior.html ) . They work great.