AeroFred

No, you're right, not mandatory but strongly recommended.

What is mandatory, that's two working brakes, one front, one rear.
Other mandatory equipment in France : the lights (front & rear), the reflectors and the bell. As for the cyclist, he must wear a reflective jacket and a helmet.

flangehead

I don't know if this is the same problem madpogue has, but for my ride it is the clearance around the straddle cable end while trying to pinch the pads closed that is difficult, not the overall access.

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A problem I could probably solve but it is easier to just install the wheel with the tire deflated.

AeroFred

Ok, I understand your problem. In your case, deflating might be easier and quicker indeed . . .

AeroFred

Do you have experience with side-pull ubrakes like in the picture below ? I'd be interested to know if they're better at stopping . . .

madpogue 

Yes, it's access to the straddle cable end, but for a different reason. Your bike is different in two ways.

One, Your drive chainrings are on the pilot's crank. My tandem is more "conventional" in that the drive chainrings are under the stoker. That's where my issue is. It's not hard to reach the straddle release, but the release is on the drive side on my bike, so your tender skin is right next to the spiky pointy teeth of the chainrings. Worse yet, the bike originally came as a half-step-plus-granny, so that middle chainring was something like 48 teeth, and RIGHT next to the release. It's MUCH less of an issue now, with a more common 42-ish-tooth middle chainring.

And that's the other difference; the straddle release is on the timing side on my rear U-brake. Ironically, if we swapped brakes, your straddle release would be on the drive side where there'd be plenty of room to reach it. And mine would be on the timing side, where there'd be no larger chainring digging into my hand.

Off-topic, but take a look at the rear shift cable in that photo. There's a guide forward of the drive-side brake mounting boss, guiding the cable directly toward the boss. But then the cable deviates from that direction and passes around the boss. With all my bikes with chainstay-mounted U-brakes, the cable passes through a hole in the drive-side brake boss. Are you sure yours doesn't have that hole? The cable changing direction coming out of that guide, and then going around the boss (hard to tell if it rides on a guide there) seems odd.

flangehead

You're right; we'd both have it easier with the release side swapped. Another difference is the centerline of the crank is much closer to the U-brake on mine than yours:

Yeah, they put your release right at the teeth...

A drive-side release might be the ticket for my arrangement.

I want to make sure I understand your observation about the guide; I may be missing something. Are you talking about the rear shift cable guide at red ? below? Or something else?

madpogue 

Interesting observation about the position of the stoker crank on yours. Just another feature of a tandem with the drive crank under the pilot, I guess.

Yes, it's that guide, plus how the cable goes around the brake boss. The guide seems intentionally pointed to the right, but then the cable makes a bend to the left (or toward the centerline) at the exit of that gude. But that doesn't seem right to me, that the cable's routing would go counter to the direction of the guide. Also, where the cable goes around the brake boss, is there another guide there? Or is it in housing? If it's just running against the side of the boss, that definitely doesn't seem right to me.

flangehead

I think the geometry serves to shorten the wheelbase.

There is only a groove in the U-brake mounting boss that the shift cable runs in.

Most times I see an outer cable segment used to negotiate complicated geometry but that wasn’t done here.

AeroFred

That's a good point !
Mine goes through the boss in a straight line. I don't get why, in his case, it has to go left around the boss when exiting the guide . . . Now that I've noticed it, it doesn't appear right to me either . . . that must create a lot of friction ?

flangehead

It is running parallel to the centerline of frame until about the bottom bracket, so some direction change is needed to direct it along the drive-side chainstay. I haven't noticed excessive friction, though nothing on a supertanker is a light touch... as I mentioned earlier, a short segment of outer cable sheath would probably have been a better alternative but it works.

AeroFred

Ok, I see, the brakes are not directly mounted on the bosses, but instead they are bolted on adapters that allow the mounting of these powerful MTB u-brakes.

Smokinapankake

Moots mounts?

AeroFred

Yeah, guess so

Choke 

It's not often that you see a full Euclid bike.....so I'll add a second one.

Early 90s Scapin in Cromor OR. I do have the original brake levers and shifters.

AeroFred

Thank you for posting pictures of your awesome bike !

You've got one of very few vintage MTB with full Campagnolo Euclid gear and these amazing U-brakes front and rear ! Congratulations !

What can you tell us about these U-brakes ? Power, modulation ? Maybe in comparison with other types of brakes you're experienced with ?

AeroFred

A good tip : try to replace the original brake pads with some Koolstop salmon ones. You'll notice the difference !

AeroFred

Anyone else with Campagnolo Euclid u-brake front ?

I'd like to see more bikes !