gugie 

Worst centerpull brakes: MAFACs set up poorly with old pads
Best centerpull brakes: MAFACs set up properly with new salmon pads.

repechage

Not quite, Best Mafac's have your brazed-on mounts. Yes, copies of the French constructeurs but it works.

bwilli88 

I prefer Dia-comps over Weinmanns as they have an extra coil on the spring.

Road Fan

For me, with those extra degrees of freedom in setting up the pads, the Mafacs have it over all of them!

Salamandrine 

Another nice feature of MAFAC brakes is that the straddle wire cable is infinitely adjustable. I've always set them up - at least for myself - with a shorter straddle wire on the front then the back. This ups the mechanical advantage a little on the front brake, and evens out the feel. Once upon a time the Weinmann double fixed end straddles were sold in several lengths, allowing the same sort of tuning, but that time is gone.

88Tempo

I kind of like the look of the Mafac Racer. I hadn't actually seen a picture of them that I remember. The fact you can adjust them seems like a plus too.

79pmooney

Mafacs were the good (symmetrical) dual pivots. The Racers and their siblings (probably mostly the siblings) recorded more TdF wins than any other brake for many years.

Fun observation: if you look closely at "real" dual pivot in action, you will see that the brake pushes the rim to one side during hard braking. The lever arms are different. I set my brakes up to not push the rim but it means my pads sit different distances from the rim.

Ben

cudak888 

CLB-2's.

...if you don't mind weird hardware, proprietary pad holders, and a self-energizing design that can throw you over the bars if you're too eager with them.




Meh, probably not the best choice in the first place then

-Kurt

The Golden Boy 

How's about the Gran Compe 450?

Sorry- this is the only pic I have of them right now...


Grail Brakes by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

TenGrainBread 

While not as special as they sound, the first gen Dura Ace centerpulls I have perform well after an overhaul and new pads.

Salamandrine 

Dual pivots were mostly a way to reintroduce "dual pivot" centerpulls to the market, while making it appear that they were something new and cool. They were an incremental improvement over the Altenberger side actuated dual pivot brakes. Those were just normal centerpulls converted to side actuation, which left one arm with poor leverage. Shimano shifted that poor arm's pivot to the center, improving it by increasing the MA. Even so, they were mostly a rehash of old centerpull tech.

cudak888 

I was really tempted to mention the GC450's, but I've only had a chance to own a set. Never had the chance to use them.

-Kurt

88Tempo

I had never heard of CLB so thanks for that picture. I actually like the look of the CLB-2. I'm not sure what they would look right on, but I like them.

I found this picture when I searched for CLB. A guy would almost have to have a bike built just so he could use them.

BFisher

@88Tempo,
Lots of good suggestions and information in this thread. One more thing to consider that I didn't see mentioned is that if you go with Mafacs, the original levers' grip reach is a bit longer than most other levers and can be too much if you've got smallish hands.

gugie 

Besides stiffening up the brakes, those braze-on posts take away one degree of freedom from setting up the brakes, which makes them easier to adjust, I've found.

JohnDThompson 

They certainly would win the beauty contest, and the pads are just as adjustable as the MAFAC "Racer" pads. Too bad they're hard to find.

tkamd73 

These work quite well on my Supercourse, NOS Gran Comps
Tim

88Tempo

Well I have the hand size covered last time I bought gloves the only ones that fit were XXL. I have no idea how my brother got gloves to fit when he was riding. His hands are quite a bit bigger than mine.

This is probably all academic anyhow since it all depends on whats in the big bin at the co-op. It was educational so thanks for all the info everyone.

The Golden Boy 

Is there a way to mill or lathe down "regular" pad stems?

I guess I'd do it, but it seems like a whole lot of "work" to spin the pad on sandpaper...

cudak888 

The CLB-2 is a phenomenal looking centerpull, I won't deny that. That's half of the reason I chose them . The integrated spring makes it look very tidy and eliminates the spongy feeling characteristic of the Weinmanns and Dia-Compes.

I did have a pair of the CLB sidepulls as well. In factory finish, much less impressive. They're definitely lightweight in the French sense though. Never did quite trust them.

-Kurt

bikemig 

I like them a lot as well and have a pair in my parts bin. Finding brake pads for them is no easy thing but I'll need to figure out that problem.

The gran compe in post 42 are also excellent. That's what I'm running on my 1982 Trek 720 (and that's why the 450s are in my parts bing while I figure out how to get brake pads for them).

Salamandrine 

Probably some clever machinist could figure out a way, or maybe there is some standard way of doing this that any machinist would know? Doesn't sound like fun to spin them down with sandpaper. I'd be inclined to drill and tap the end of the brake pad stud, and insert a screw. The put that bit into the chuck to turn it down. Or something like that.

What diameter are the pad studs anyway? 6mm instead of 7? I don't think I've actually worked on a GC450 since the 80s. There's a new reissue version of the GC450, and they sell replacement pads, but they appear to be standard 7mm size now.

Wouldn't it be easier to just replace the inserts the old school way, and keep the holders? Seems like one of the Weinmann inserts that Koolstop sells would fit.

Salamandrine 

Should be noted that the Gran Compe GC540 is a short reach brake, and the GC610 is a medium reach brake.

There weren't a lot of short reach centerpulls ever made. They were out of fashion by the time that short reach became standard. Another great one that comes to mind is the Zeus 2000. It was a very pretty and finely finished super deluxe racing centerpull. About 20 years too late to market...

These from velobase are standard (medium) reach. IIRC they did come in short reach, but maybe I mis-remembered. (EDIT: seems that there was one size only, but it was between short and medium reach. Minimum adjustment 45)


If we go by looks alone I definitely vote for Mafac. They were not finely finished, but still the prettiest from a sculptural point of view, IMO. And the levers remind me of Babar.

randyjawa 

Again, I repeat my praise for Mafac brakes but one thing does bug the hoha out of me - the half hoods...

Salamandrine 

Somehow the half hoods never bugged me. They are more comfortable if you wrap them in.

Probably any sort of hood was considered deluxe when Mafac introduced those... When I started working in a bike shop, a lot of bikes didn't have brake hoods at all. Riding the hoods wasn't a big thing.