Renngrrl

has anyone used these folks? Rod Brake Pads for classic Bikes | Parts | Brakes | Lovelybikes.com

These could answer a lot of people's prayers. I stumbled across them while trying to find a polished rear rack similar to the style that came with my 1979 Puch. I also like that they have a repro Bakelite type rod brake guards and a few other possibly useful items.

rhm

I don't know anything about what Lovely Bicycle is selling. Maybe that's my phone's fault? Whatever, I'd like to know more.

I do know KoolStop offers pads for rod brake stirrups, and I've found their quality to be excellent (though I haven't tried these).

https://www.koolstop.com/english/rod_pull.html

Based on my ignorance ofthe former and familiarity with thelatter (which may be prejudicial) I'd go with the latter.

Renngrrl

This was a first for me as I thought everybody used the koolstops. It says they manufacture their own. The images are from their ad. zapatas_freno_varillas_14.jpgretroclassic_4_4.jpg

Renngrrl

How I found these people is because I was trying to track down this rack. It's the closest rack I've seen to the brochure photos.Chroming Rear Rack 28" | Accessories | Racks | Lovelybikes.com Lovelybikes.com

BigChief 

I've used a lot of different pads over the years and salmon Kool Stops are the best I've found for steel rims. Although I've also been satisfied with black Fibrax pads. The Kool Stops are inserts and fit into your existing holders. The Fibrax are complete units. It's not difficult to punch out the old pads and press in the Kool Stop inserts. You'll get different opinions on this, but I find a bit of improvement in mounting the pads leading the stirrup rather than trailing. You'll see both leading and trailing methods used on the later Raleigh style rod brakes with offset arms on the front brake.
edit:
in any case, keep track of your original pad units. You may want to use pad inserts at some point.

roadster brake.JPG

Andrew R Stewart 

JBI - Product Details


These are basic black "rubber" pads. Our shop would sell them at about $5 a pair but would need to order them, no shipping if gotten in our weekly order. The CA warehouse has them in stock. Andy

3alarmer 

.
...rod brakes don't work well anyway, so whatever you use, wear tennis shoes so you can drag your feet to stop.

Andrew R Stewart 

They could work if a lot of details were done better. Like round rims and slop free rod connections. Then there's the leverage factors... maybe some one will introduce a new version. With a specific rim, unique handle bars and frame then call it an advance. We do partake in a cyclic activity/business. Andy

BigChief 

I used to think rod brakes were almost useless until I really set my mind on getting the best performance I could out of them. With the help of some knowledgeable folks here at BF, I did get a huge improvement to the point I'll call them adequate. Especially considering the speed I tend to ride this kind of bike at.
First is to get the front wheel as true as possible. Any out of roundness shows up as uneven pressure.
Next is pad alignment. There's no self alignment here! Since this style brake uses the stirrup as a return spring, the pads move in as well as up as you squeeze the lever. You can make the side to side adjustment by loosening the guides and tapping them up or down on the fork leg.
Next is getting both pads to contact the rim exactly at the same time. You do this by holding a strip of sandpaper against the rim, applying light pressure to the lever and dressing off which ever pad contacts the rim first until both pads contact the rim evenly.
Next, assuming previous owners tried to stop the bike with misaligned or old hard pads and bent the levers, I very carefully used a small pipe to bend the levers out to restore the original lever travel.
Also, I chose the "leading" method of attaching the front brake offset arms. I think I noticed an improvement and the factory catalogs show them mounted this way.

kj_one

I recently got a set of the Kool Stop salmon blocks to swap in for the Fibrax ones currently mounted on my Tourist. I'm having a pretty hard time getting the Fibrax pads out of the shoes they come with, so that I can swap in the Kool Stop blocks. BigChief -- would you be able to provide any guidance as to how you went about doing this? Thanks in advance!

BigChief 

The original Raleigh brake pad holders are wider at one end and narrowed down at the other, but still has an opening at the narrow end. I open my bench vise jaws just enough to support the holder edge but still allow room for the pad to move. Then I use a punch small enough to fit through the narrow end and drive the pad out with a hammer. To install the Kool Stops, I get the pad started in the wide end and use the bench vise to press them in.

kj_one

This is very helpful! Thanks!

crank_addict

Groovy pic. 'Tweed Rides' are out.

Having both of these bikes, this might be the new 'hip ride' attire - for the ladies anyways. Lol

JaccoW

Here is another website with lots of rear carriers: Hollandbikeshop.

It looks very similar to the one by Kuhnert

pfaustus

Was I the only person to click on the link expecting the name meant a certain blogger was getting back into the bicycle business?

canklecat

Website based in Spain, formerly Biciclįsica, started in 2010, about the same time as the blogger we all know and miss. No apparent connection. Not sure when they renamed the site.