cpsqlrwn

Would this beauty be SL or SLX?

eja_ bottecchia

You are very welcome.

repechage

The early ones before they were withdrawn for a time with the QR on the caliper assembly are a bit smaller than the reworked production units. The dimension between the primary pivots is different. 25 mm tires were not be used.

The later production units worked reasonably well, I do not think they were worth the extra weight and fussiness. Those issues are balanced by the high style of them.

sauze

I thought this was interesting

"reader Mikael Bergqvist has this unique Delta brakeset, modified to include:

All steel hardware replaced with titanium (thanks to SRP)

Tyre guides removed, new spacers made.

New spacers between brake and frame/fork made from aluminum.

New brake pad nuts made from aluminium.

New covers in carbon fiber.

All alu. parts anodized black.

The result: Classic AND high tech, total weight for the pair: 371g"


which after googling around seems to be a very reasonable weight.

mapleleafs-13 

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I my deltas, this is the first pair of deltas i've ever owned. They work great actually, there's nothing bad about the stopping power. I believe i have the 5 pivot version.

I think i may have gotten devinfan a little hooked on them. When we went on a ride last, he said "I can't stop staring at your delta's, i gotta get a pair now", it was funny kinda creepy hahah just kidding.....

clubman 

Wow

Chombi

There was a set of Weinmann Deltas that sold last year and had a similar CF front cover. I'm wondering if it was the same guy who modded it.
Dang!, I should have bought them. They went for cheap as the body of the front caliper was a bit butchered up on the back to allow it to fit closely to the lower head race assembly of some bike but the CF covers would have been a nice mod for my own NOS set.

Chombi

mapleleafs-13 

this is probably the same process when they put carbon fibre laminates on tuner cars, i've seen them put these finish's over car trunks and harder parts that normal carbon fibre car companies don't make, like gluing them onto car interior parts and so on then finishing them and clear coat and whatnot (i know that in the tuner car industry they do make all carbon hoods and trunks and whatnot, but sometimes for more rare cars and whatnot they'll do this finish over the original steel trunk to get "the look" because they don't make that part)

eja_ bottecchia

Thank you for the compliment.

She is SLX.

eja_ bottecchia

That is a beautiful Bianchi. Having recently acquired a Bianchi Infinito, I can nevertheless appreciate the beauty of these vintage Bianchis.

I have a question for you and it has to do with style and aesthetics.

I have often been tempted to change my Bottechia's drivetrain to a more modern one, i.e., Campy brifters (gad I hate that word!).

Everytime I am ready to pull the trigger, however, I talked myself out of it. Even though a modern drivetrain would make it a lot eaasier for me to climb the many hills near my home, I keep thinking that keeping the Bottecchia's original Campy drivetrain makes more sense from a totally stylistic point.

With that in mind, why did you change your bike's drivetrain (this of couse assumes that you in fact changed it and did not buy the bike in its present configuration).

Your Bianchi is beautiful as it now is, I am just wondering what the analysis is for making the change - maybe I will eventually be persuaded to change mine.

Grazie amico!

mapleleafs-13 

this is pretty much the way i got it, i was looking for something with brifters, i don't enjoy downtube shifters, mainly cause i'm lazy , when i saw the c-record group it just sealed the deal, i could not resist

lml999

As a brief note, the early Deltas had the white rubber dustcover on the top, the later ones have the black.

I've got an '89 Colnago Spiral Conic SLX set up as a fixed gear with Record components. I put a set of Deltas on it briefly a while ago, but thought that they looked large relative to the frame size (I ride a 52cm frame). I'm tempted now and again to pick up another set...

Lee

J T CUNNINGHAM

And then there is the problem with the first generation rear mechanical when the limit stop breaks off.

Regards,
J T

jr59

Mine don't stop the way I want to, but look so good I can't take them off.

I'm sure glad it's flat around here.

ALPHA37

i have several bikes with delta's ( 1st gen to last and even croce d'aune ones... ) i also must say , when set right , they are fine brakes... no problems riding them myself

EhGiOeS

I have 10 pair of deltas.Including a pair pantographed for the Italian national team. I kinda like themm Ed

b dub 

I have two and a half sets (2nd, 3rd and half of 4th generation) and I thought that was not too common...

Chombi

Campy Deltas aren't as rare as people might think, except for maybe the ones with the dark smoked finish. Always lots of them for sale every year at eBay. What's amazing is how much they hold their values and how much they keep going up, despite being panned by many as a brake that's hard to set up, being too heavy and on the weak side, braking power-wise compared to sidepulls of their time.... Their looks always seem overcome all those supposed "issues" otherwise.
I wonder if Campagnolo can bring them back, re-ingineered with maybe a modern touch like Ti and CF parts on it, and yet another different pivot arrangement under the covers for even better braking..... I bet lots of people will eagerly go for them....

Bianchigirll 

I never had too much trouble with mine, my pads are getting long in the tooth though and I would love some new ones. I bought what were supposed to be Delta pads off ebay a few years ago but they looked more like mid '90s pads.

Mark Kelly 

IMO replacing the pads with modern ones is the single biggest improvement to be made with Deltas. I fabricated a simple pair of adapters to suit Koolstop pads and holders for my front brakes and haven't looked back. I left the rear ones with the old setup because they're good enough for that.

Not acceptable to the purists of course.

rhm

On the rarity of the 3.5 mm allen wrench (0.138") can't you use a 9/64" (0.140") one?

EhGiOeS

Looking at them from a distance I always thought they looked clunky. Then I bought a bike for $ 90 delivered. Delta brakes and C Record white hood levers. The workmanship is unreal for a bike brake. So last winter they were selling very cheaply in Europe. I paid between $ 150 and 200 a set. I had to stop at 10.I have 10 Colnagos the 93 being the newest. Ed

Bianchigirll 

The wrench isn't that rare you just need to think outside the bike shop.

Chombi

My pet peeve with Delta brakes, was always how one could manage the brake cable ends on them as they come out at the bottom of the cable anchor on the caliper.
On the Wienmann Deltas, Installed and adjusted properly, they kinda just peep out of the bottom of the caliper body casing, as seen on this pic of mine...

Mind you, it took quite a bit of effort and multiple trimming and adjusting just to get it right so the cable cap does not hit the top of the tires and cause an irritating whining noise and maybe damage the tire tread after some miles and still be long enough to make it easy to grab for any future adjustment of the cable. Tried bending it to the front and the back of the caliper body, but the clearance is just so small as to make it hard to establish where to do the bend on the cable and adjust the brake properly at the same time....
Not sure how it's handled on the Campy Delta, but I assume that there might be similar problems with the cable end management. It's a small detail to contend with, but can be irritating when trying to set up and install such a high spec/high cost C&V component.... where "perfection" is usually expected.
I suspect that one big reason the Delta designs did not take over from the sidepulls mainly because of their fiddly nature when you install and adjust them.... They must have been a bit of a headache for mechanics to look after in Pro races....

Mark Kelly 

Chombi, I agree, my Deltas cost me three sets of new cables before I worked out how to "do it right" (and threw away the cable cutter I was using).

A couple of years later I came up with the technique I use now: fit the cable with no wheel, using a block the width of the rims to adjust cable clamp position, then mark the cable 5mm past the clamp. Then remove the cable, unwind it slightly at the mark and apply flux liberally, allow it to rewind then braze the strands together with Harris 56 or Cycle Art System 48. It is essential not to allow the heat to affect the part of the cable which will carry stress: the wire is cold drawn and the heat will anneal it, destroying its strength. I then clean up the braze and rethread and clamp the cable then cut it. The brazed end means the cable can be removed and rethreaded as many times as you want without ever fraying.

PS: that Alan is gorgeous. Mavic derailleurs and Simplex shifters?