Should I drill my brake bridge?
 

I have a new to me Masi Gran Criterium; 1980-ish best guess. Discussed a little bit in here

Little bit of an oddball feature. The fork is drilled for recessed brake bolt while the rear is nutted. The bike came with what I presume is the original Record rear brake and a Shimano front brake. I wonder if the fork is a replacement. I think the frame might be a repaint as I haven’t seen the dark metallic gray on any other Masi. Anyway, contemplating the build for this and mismatched brakes will bug me. I don’t think I have an orphan Nutted record front brake in the stash. Should I drill the brake bridge for a recessed bolt? It has a 13 mm diameter single piece brake bridge. All my other old bikes with recessed rear brakes have a Silva style bridge or a reinforced block in the center.

Also I rattle canned the fork with a close match color and it came out pretty well. A slight shade lighter but you have to know, I think to tell the difference.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ff6b70e16.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ad06e65b.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...82ef30968.jpeg

Not on your life. ;)

something lesser, yeah. i've done it. it didn't look great as that metal is quite hard to drill. it worked, though. but, that masi...i'd just run nutted brakes front and rear. OR...you could do a sheldon brown and run the rear recessed brake up front installing the nut up inside the steerer hole in the crown. then run the matching front brake in the rear and put a nut on it.

Yep, find a nutter and make a sleeve for the front. :twitchy:

.
...there was a period of time when bikes came with a recessed front brake and a regular nutted rear. I have several sets of brakes from this period, and I've had some frames set up that way as well. I assume the frames came that way, and were not drilled in the fork by a previous owner, but the brake sets kind of bear this out.

I have drilled a rear brake bridge, very carefully, to enlarge it for recessed brake once, on a frame that already had an opening in the fork for recessed. It was kind of anxiety inducing, so I have resolved not to do it again. I have also done that thing where you drill out the threads in a recessed nut, to make a sleeve for the front brake, and use a regular nutted one. I've done that several times, and it caused me no anxiety at all.

The problem with drilling the rear brake bridge is that, unless you have a right angle drill, there isn't enough room for the drill between the brake bridge and the seat tube. So you have to go in from the rear, and this means you enlarge that side of the bridge as well. Which is kind of a bodge. Because on that side, all you have filling the hole is the braaake bolt itself, not the recessed nut on the exterior. So it will move, unless you make a modification, like using one of those curved alloy brake spacers on that side.

I wouldn't do it, especially on a frame that nice.

right!! i'd forgotten that LITTLE detail. PITA!!

Yeah....DON'T DO IT...haha

I have a 1983 Mercian with front recessed, rear nutted, and I just got a few spares to make a mix/match set of Cyclone single pivots or Tektro dual pivots, depending on whether I go with a modern-ish build or a period correct-ish build.

In other words, don’t drill! You can easily make a mix and match brake set!

Good advice all, thanks for talking me down.

Just leave it off. No one uses a rear brake anyway. It’s just for show.

I've done it from the front using the method in post #4 here and a short bit.
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...-question.html
Kind of slow but there isn't that much to remove.

I also agree this isn't the frame to do it to.

I'll bite my tongue on going in from the rear seeing as you didn't mention nuns ;)

This is the first I've heard of frames intentionally coming with recessed front, nutted rear. Why would manufacturers do that?

I'd be inclined to drill the rear.

(In any case: Nice frame, and good job on the color match.)

Just make it a fixie. No brakes needed, problem solved.

This...

I did it on my mid 80s Nishiki Continental (I used a right-angle drill). It worked but was seriously anxiety-inducing. There are still some nutted brakes available and I'd probably go that route next time.

Nah. Too nice a frame set. It is on my list and has been for a few years. Contemplated buying a 3V Team but it isn't the same.

I've done it by hand (turning a short drill bit using vise grips, slowly, and then cleaning up with jeweler's files) several times on lesser frames. I did it recently on an Asian-made aluminum track frame. It's not fun, but not that difficult to do.

On your frame? I can't advise you on ethical choices...but, wherever possible it's best to avoid crimes and mortal sins.

And it saves weight! Win, win!

Don't drill - Swap brake positions and you can use any brakeset. Run the front one on the rear with a nut and use an extended sleeve on the front like one of these:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/pfMAA...-ck/s-l400.jpg

I don't know what type of groupset you have in mind, but the Shimano BR1055, for example, came with both the recessed bolt and the nutted options. So you can certainly have matching brakes with different mounting systems:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b178c87ffc.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ffc5b395a8.jpg

drilling the rear is not a smart idea, I bought a GC so modified in Italy, I spent a solid amount of time correcting it back to nut attachment. Lathe and torch required.

I would locate a bushing that will fill the back of the fork crown, (at some point these were an aftermarket part in the 80's)

restore the bike to nut attachment front and rear.

Masi was late to the recessed attachment party.

They were late to switching to short dropouts too, they bought That MANY in 1973.

What is interesting was that a show bike, last known owned by Rydjor bike shop, Had recessed attachment from 1975.

It was in their virtual museum last I looked, repainted by Brian Baylis, original was in clearcoat.

It was approaching 1983 that Masi updated things when they went to Henry James sourced lugs.


As to this color, I have seen enough of them in "near" that color that it might be original.

Not bad, but I think the metallic is too coarse.

another tell on the originality of the paint, This bike probably has a date coded serial number, including the quarter built, the year and then the # of that quarter.
You could compare it with Bobhovey.com Masi bits page and see if the seat tube bands appear correct.
The rectangle was on the left then later moved to the front.

Last, Jim Allen of Cyclesmiths in Ranchita CA who painted a slew of these, might have the answer, be frugal with his time.

you should be able to use recessed brakes, doing the old sheldon brown put the rear brake up front with longish recessed nut and put the front in back using a nut.

does solve you problem of aesthetics but works great

Thanks repechage . I agree, the paint is coarse and not all that but nicely fit my goals of cheap and not distracting with casual looks at arm's length distance. I still plan on attacking it with some rubbing compound and maybe some clear coat. The serial number is part of the mystery with this bike. It's just stamped with the size 57 (matching stamp on fork) and nothing else. The bike will be built with Campy and I had leaned toward 8 speed with down tube shifters but I'll have an easier time mixing/matching nutted brakes with older Record/Super Record, so I'll likely do that with a cheater compact crank.

I've had several early '80s Univegas that were like that, but they are all sport- touring with eyelets, which allows you to use a rear rack mounted with the nutted brake bolt.

57 only indicates an earlier frame than the fork.
Usually those bikes also had a frame size stamp on the steerer…and the fork was a Fischer looking crown. if it does not and the 8 mm hole in the back of the fork appears original… my conjecture would be a post Carlsbad shop frame but built by a subcontractor, Eisentraut, Lippy and I think one other, hard to pin down. Lippy the leading choice.
With a later replacement fork. Best guess, late 1982.
repainted/ painted at that point and top tube cable guides added at that juncture.

original rear spacing was probably 120mm, again, Masi was late to the party. 126 could be ordered IF you knew who to ask. And easier if just a frame set, the vast bulk of the hubs were 120mm spaced.