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Mafac Racer levers

Old 06-04-18, 08:50 AM
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Mafac Racer levers

My Mafac Racer brake levers are scratched, so I bought a new set. Is it possible to just replace the levers only so I don't have to remove the original bar tape and swap the whole assembly?
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Old 06-04-18, 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by 76SLT
My Mafac Racer brake levers are scratched, so I bought a new set. Is it possible to just replace the levers only so I don't have to remove the original bar tape and swap the whole assembly?
Yes.
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Old 06-04-18, 09:12 AM
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Remove the brake cable, drive out the pin that the brake lever pivots on (probably not realy designed to be removed but if you insist you can do it), put in the new brake lever, reset the pin, and reinstall the cable. Of course you might scratch things driving out the pin, but hey, taking a shortcut always works out well.
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Old 06-04-18, 09:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Eggman84
Remove the brake cable, drive out the pin that the brake lever pivots on (probably not realy designed to be removed but if you insist you can do it), put in the new brake lever, reset the pin, and reinstall the cable. Of course you might scratch things driving out the pin, but hey, taking a shortcut always works out well.
Thank you, I'll give it a try. I'm not lookkng for a shortcut, I actually enjoy working on my bikes, I just don't want to remove the original cloth bar wrap from the early 70's, which is in great shape, if I didn't have to.
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Old 06-04-18, 11:05 AM
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Originally Posted by 76SLT
Thank you, I'll give it a try. I'm not lookkng for a shortcut, I actually enjoy working on my bikes, I just don't want to remove the original cloth bar wrap from the early 70's, which is in great shape, if I didn't have to.
You don't have to remove the bar tape if you remove the old brake levers but leave their clamp bands in place. Loosen the holding bolt completely and pull the levers off the front. Replace them with the new levers and reuse the older clamp bands which should be identical to the new ones.
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Old 06-04-18, 11:12 AM
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Originally Posted by HillRider
You don't have to remove the bar tape if you remove the old brake levers but leave their clamp bands in place. Loosen the holding bolt completely and pull the levers off the front. Replace them with the new levers and reuse the older clamp bands which should be identical to the new ones.
I have done exactly this a number of times. Works fine.
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Old 06-04-18, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by HillRider
You don't have to remove the bar tape if you remove the old brake levers but leave their clamp bands in place. Loosen the holding bolt completely and pull the levers off the front. Replace them with the new levers and reuse the older clamp bands which should be identical to the new ones.
I should have known that, I wasn't thinking. Thanks to everyone.
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Old 06-05-18, 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by HillRider
You don't have to remove the bar tape if you remove the old brake levers but leave their clamp bands in place. Loosen the holding bolt completely and pull the levers off the front. Replace them with the new levers and reuse the older clamp bands which should be identical to the new ones.
Well, if the tape was wrapped over the lever bodies the tape will be involved. It was common to at least overlap the tape (onto the body) at the corners of the body/bar contact. My taping style has evolved over the years somewhat but the goal of smoothing the body/bar transition is still one goal.

If we're talking about the 1970s lever version the half hood, with it's metal tang that gets sandwiched under the upper portion of the body and the bar, routing the tape over this end of the hood was a nice touch. Andy
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Old 06-05-18, 10:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Andrew R Stewart

If we're talking about the 1970s lever version the half hood, with it's metal tang that gets sandwiched under the upper portion of the body and the bar, routing the tape over this end of the hood was a nice touch. Andy
It is the half hood version, but the wrap goes under the hood. I made the switch to the new levers without an issue.
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Old 06-10-18, 06:50 PM
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Looks real good. Glad you didn't have to drive out the pin holding the lever to the body, but could replace the whole body. Amazed you could find NOS levers.
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Old 06-11-18, 05:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Eggman84
Looks real good. Glad you didn't have to drive out the pin holding the lever to the body, but could replace the whole body. Amazed you could find NOS levers.
They were mounted on some Cinelli Giro d'italia handlebars I bought. The Cinelli is now on my IronMan. The Mafacs had full black hoods from Cane Creek, and looked very nice, but I wanted the original half hoods on the Crescent to keep it original.
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