Mr. Spadoni 

Think this may have been covered in a different thread but I can’t find it.

What is this washer from a brake called? When can I find some? Is there any non bike washer that will do the same job?

Thanks

merziac

Toothed or serrated Campy brake washer I think?

tiger1964 

I presume "Campy Magic Washers", which is what we called them in the 1970's, is not a name used in the Campagnolo Catalog, but descriptive. Worth looking for.

Mr. Spadoni 

It’s either Campy or Suntour. It was at the bottom of the drawer where both brands had once lived. I need at least two,

repechage

rondella dentata

Robvolz 

I’ve seen them called “star washers” at hardware stores

DiabloScott

"external tooth star lock washers"

Bianchigirll 

These should do the trick https://www.modernbike.com/dia-compe...erbe-bag-of-10

Mr. Spadoni 

thank you. Here’s what I found searching on that term. Looks like it will work.

bulgie 

We used to call them Campy "patent washers". Dunno how widespread that terminology was, maybe just the shop where I worked in the '70s? Earlier ones had "BREV CAMP" or "PATENT" stamped in. (Brev means patented, in Italian) Presumably they stopped doing that once the patent expired.

The main feature is they are hardened, so the teeth bite into whatever they are sandwiched between. Biting into both sides prevents rotation, the kind that makes your brakes get knocked off-center. So don't tighten the brake down then try to rotate it until centered, you're gouging up whatever the washer has bitten into. Try to hold the brake centered while you tighten it the first time, making only one set of teeth marks in the things sandwiching the washer.

Being hard, they are also somewhat brittle and cannot be bent without cracking. One way I've seen them crack is from tightening one against a curved crown or brake bridge, wiithout a radius washer to give the patent washer a flat surface.

Picky judges at concours will take a point off if you put one of these behind the crown or bridge. When Campy shipped their brakes with two patent washers on the F. brake they were both meant to go in front of the crown, but many people mistakenly put them on both sides of the crown. The reason for two in front is for those forks with a built-in flat spot, which elinimates the need for a radius washer. The radius washer added some forward offset to the brake, allowing you to reach the wrench flats on the centerbolt that are for centering the brake, otherwise inaccessible under the bulge of the headset. Later, when the newer crowns did away with the radius washer, we needed two (or in rare cases 3) patent washers to provide the same forward offset.

If your headset doesn't block the wrench flats, then you don't need a second washer, and you can save the second one Campy gave you for some future build. I like them for headlamp struts, to keep them from rotating down from the weight of the lamp, like when hitting a pot hole.

And never put two in the rear brake, that's just blasphemy. Unless you feel like it!

bulgie 

Those are sub-optimal because they are designed to be easy to turn in one direction (tightening), resisting loosening only. They might be better than nothing, but they won't bite into both sides , locking out any rotation in either direction, like the Campy washer does.

Mr. Spadoni 

Thanks. Modern bike will get the order. Time spent tracking down the right washer is worth the cost.