tairy

I'm considering changing out my Modolo Speey brakes for something more modern. I don't really care about keeping it time period specific and would rather just having something with easy brakes to remove and put back on and most importantly brakes that perform well. I saw some suggestions forCampagnolo Veloce Dual Pivots. The price is right but I was just seeing if there are any other suggestions out there. I don't know the brand of the derailleur but the logo has a bird and an "O" on it. Would using just regular Jagwire derailleur housing work fine? Some of their branding says things like works with SRAM and Shimano.

I'm also thinking of changing out my handlebars for something with a little more sweep and height to be more upright. Would changing handlebars make handling quite different from my current setup. Right now the handlebars have a slight rise and slight sweep, nothing dramatic. I'm still fairly forward but not like I was when there were drops.

ehcoplex 

Have you tried new pads (Koolstop) and making sure your brakes are properly set up? That may be enough of an improvement and is cheap (Modolo's poor reputation aside...).

John E

Yes! Also new low-friction, low-compression cables. My Bianchi came with Modolo sidepulls. I replaced the calipers with Campags., which worked about as well (poorly), but, for me, aero-style Shimano brake levers did help noticeably, by providing an additional 15% leverage. KoolStop pads and good cables are essential with these brakes.

tairy

I haven't tried the Kool Stop brakes yet but I've heard of all the hype! I'm down to try them. The obnoxious squeak on the brakes is kind of driving me crazy as well.

Really there's a difference between cables as well? I just bought a big spool of black Jagwire brake and derailleur cable and the cheapest bike cables. I thought it would be cool to try interesting colors but for upgrading multiple bikes this is definitely the cheapest way. I thought they'd all be the same.

I'm pretty convinced to just upgrade my brakes. I'm not a timepiece kind of guy. I'd rather have good working brakes. Is there anything that I should pay attention to when upgrading when it comes to reach? The campy's that I was looking at says 44-52cm (not long) reach.

tairy

I forgot to mention that I had the drops replaced with a bar with a little rise and these XLC levers. I'm not sure if this would make any difference in my stopping power. I just tested it, again and the brake calipers sqeak quite a bit when they rotate (sound isn't from the brakes hitting the rim). Is this possible to get rid of this sound? Also, the rear tire slides when I am rolling the bike and activating the rear brake.

Andy_K 

Yeah, that's actually a problem. Those levers pull more cable than typical drop bar brake levers, and that means they don't pull as hard. If you've used levers like that with mountain bike brakes, you may be questioning my claim because when paired with something like a V-brake or even well adjusted cantilevers these levers will produce great stopping power, but paired with a brake designed for short pull they won't work as well.

I'm not sure how much cable pull a vintage brake like the Modolo Speedy was designed for, but I know modern dual pivot brakes like the Veloces you mentioned won't work well with these levers. I'd recommend a flat bar lever that's designed for short cable pull, something like this Shimano BL-R3000: https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...0&category=669

tairy

Oh no! I trusted a man at a bike store. I figured he knew what he was doing. I'm learning more and more these days that sometimes it's better off just to learn how to do something yourself. Thank you for the reasoning and the link. Perhaps I just get some new levers (again) and perhaps install the new cabling.

If I decide to stick it out with the Modolo Speedy's, what type of Koolstop brakes will fit?

Andy_K 

I'm not sure about that. I hear Koolstop has really good customer support. You might be able to get them to make a recommendation.

jdawginsc 

Just my two cents, since you are not trying to maintain original equipment, I recommend dual pivots. They don’t need to be Campy or even Shimano.

I have a few no names, but Tektros are actually very well regarded and reasonably cheap. Just be sure to read about reach and get appropriate ones.

As far as cabling, I am a big fan of these kits and this seller in particular.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25423468514...kAAOSwUP1gwDGG

Then you can sell the Speedy brakes and probably get your money back.

tairy

Thanks, maybe I will. One other thing is that the front caliper doesn't spring back to the initial position when releasing the brake. So there's that. I heard at some forums that Tektro parts are typically used as cheap replacements. These are the kind of rabbit holes I never know if it's worth searching for something better or just going with a cheapo part.

I actually ordered a large spool of black jagwire off of amazon...sorry if that's frowned upon here. I figured it's cheaper in bulk and I have another bike I'm replacing the brakes so it'll come in handy especially if I mess up the cut.

How do you know that the ebay seller is using OEM parts?

Hobbiano 

I have a Centurion Cinelli Project bike with those Speedy Modolo brakes. I was able to adjust all of the slop out of and lubricate the pivots and the previous owner had already replaced the original sintered pads with some Shimano replacement pads that look similar to what's on yours. It has aero brake levers which supposedly increase the mechanical advantage over non-aero levers, and they work quite well. The key is to do a careful setup and replace the pads if they are worn or dried out and hard. Not weak at all, but I'm sure dual pivots are better, if you feel you need them.

Stormy Archer

You really don't need new brakes. the correct levers would be a good start, some old 4 finger MTB levers will have you stopping as good as anyone IMO.
they'll look a lot better too. go back to the bike shop and see if they'll down sell you (instead of upselling)

jdawginsc 

They don't (if you are referring to the Jagwire kits). They make individual little kits with everything included. It is a great price on a package where I can play with color a bit without having to source from separate places.

BY the way, I am a fan of these different dual pivots
https://www.ebay.com/itm/17517000825...8AAOSwEYxiE0qm (Campy Centaur)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/22500829141...gAAOSwKoNieCMx (Ultegra-600-tricolor)

These might be the candidates for the dual pivots you referred to earlier?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/17527462562...0AAOSwpk5ieU9Z

Dave

tairy

I took these off an old Trek mountain bike which I'm converting to an electric and will be using the brake levers that will kill the motor when activated. I also converted these from cantilever to V brakes. They're Shimano Altus C50. How can I tell if these are short reach pulls?

tairy

Unfortunately for the owner of the bike shop it was condemned after the neighboring building collapsed onto their building. They are good people and were doing good things for the neighborhood. Hopefully they're able to get back on their feet.

alcjphil

Campagnolo Veloce dual pivot brakes do not have a release on the brake calliper. They would make installing and removing the wheels very difficult unless you are prepared to deflate the tire

Chombi1 

I just noticed from your pics that your Peugeot Ventoux might have a Stronglight B10 headset that has delrin plastic cups.
You might consider changing it out to a headset with all metal parts, as thd B10 headset tended to flex (And can start cracking from UV deterioration) quite a bit at the cups, which results in a squidgy feeling front end, especially when braking. The Modolo Speedy brake calipers, being quite flexible itself just exacerbates the unprecise feel up front.
Bearing preload on the B10 is also quite difficult to get right as you will usually not be able to get all the slop out of the bearings without causing too much binding/drag.
Best is to replace it with an all steel headset like the one made by Tange (Levin) or if you can swing it, try and find a Stronglight A9 headset, which is dimensionally identical to the B10, but with aluminum cups, instead of Delrin plastic.

Paul Waque 

To determine cable pull of a lever: the distance from the pivot point to the cable end will be proportional to the cable pull.
edit, I guess that two finger levers might move through a bit of a greater range and add more cable pull as well.

tairy

I actually wasn't even aware of the headset component on bikes. Would you really consider replacing this?

I bought some Kool Stop brake pads and unfortunately the Modolo Speey's are not improved. I think it's time to move on from them entirely. I'll probably just put them on ebay and get something more modern or maybe check out my local co-op to see if they have any.

Andy_K Thanks for pointing out the issue with my handlebar brakes. It turns out that the brake levers I had on this Peugeot work perfectly with my V-brakes on my new e-bike conversion. It's my first, hey I have some bike parts that aren't working on this bike so I'll use it on this other bike moment. It's also the first time I've had more than one bike.

Here's what it looks like so far. I got these foam cork grips that I can't get off! I just had to see how they looked before I got my new brake levers. Also, I took off the rear rack and the front reflector since taking this photo. I just thought perhaps I should get a stem extender to give this a little rise before I get the brakes installed. And clearly this one needs a bell

Road Fan

I really like Campy dual-pivots, just about any vintage and level! Put on good pads, overhaul the caliper with a clean and lube, and they should work really well for a long time. What more can you ask for? I've almost certainly used Jagwire to cable up the new bikes, it worked fine!

Brake calipers will not affect your handling.

Road Fan

I received a Delrin B10 on my 1984 Trek 610 when it was new, and I didn't pay much attention to the headset. No problems except I chose to overhaul the bike about 10 years later (lol!). I found Trek had used the Stronglight parts on the upper bearing, and had put balls in the lower bearing, I think the fixed lower cup was an Ofmega, with balls, but the crown race was the Delrin B10 with the Stronglight bearing disk, bearing balls running on it.! I stuck the whole BB in a drawer (in a Baggie) and found a Campy Record BB reduced 50%. I installed the Campy. I really wasn't any more or less happy, except I got an $80 Campy part for $40. Both worked well. I don't think the Delrin HS is any risk, at least the only negative on mine was a crazy mechanic at Trek. I have a needle bearing A9 on my Mondonico and it is just fine as well.

tairy

Thank you for your input! I'll probably not mess with the headset for now. Right now I'm focused on finding the right dual pivot calipers. I just measured on my bike the hole where the bolt of the caliper is mounted to the center of the rim where the brake pad would make contact and it's 55mm. I've seen what's described as a mid reach caliper that's 47-57mm reach and also a Tektro that's considered a long reach at 55-73mm. So I'm either at the higher end of mid reach or lower end of high reach. Con

Campy's dual pivot - mid reach 47- 57mm - no quick release - $60 - https://www.10cyclesbike.com/product...e-262456-1.htm
Tektro R559 - high reach 55-73mm - quick release - around $54 on ebay - https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=45

Road Fan

there are some levers which have QR features - you should look around.

tairy

Alright I got the Tektro brakes and they're amazing compared to the Modolo Speedy's.

I love the bike even more now and I realize now that bike modding can be a rabbit hole. But there's one big thing as far as functionality goes is changing the downtube shifters. They make sense if you're racing in drops but I'm upright now, you can't expect me to be bending over every time I need to get around this hilly city. So I think I know what I need but possibly how to shift this to thumb shifters if it's possible. I was looking on Velo Orange for a 6 speed shifter and it looks like they have something:

https://velo-orange.com/collections/...unts-22-2-23-8

Although now I see these don't accommodate 6 speed cogs.

I wanted to make this change before but now the last two times I rode the bike, I snapped the shifter cable because I apparently put too much tension on the shifter!

If anyone has any advice on how to approach this I'm all ears!

jdawginsc 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39389634945...Bk9SR4CYr4O8YA

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25543248756...3ABFBMgJivg7xg