Piff 

I do love my CLB professionals. Lightweight, powerful, unique design. But, they do lack in one area: vertical tire clearance. Fair enough, they were made in an era of 19mm/21mm tubulars, not the 28mm clinchers I'm using.

You can see it pretty well in this picture (not mine) looking at them from below - both the branded CLB protrusion at the front of the caliper, as well as the flat bit next to the spring sit well below the mounting bolt by a few mm more than I believe other calipers do.




I'm hoping to swap to some brake calipers that will let me customize a set of full length fenders to fit a road bike as well as possible. Currently, there's about 3mm of brake/tire clearance with 28mm tires. With the right brake/tire combination I feel like there could be at least enough clearance for a setup like the SKS Raceblade Longs. It will also probably require swapping to 25mm tires as well, but that's no big deal.

I've got a nice pair of Ultegra 6500 dual pivots that are a bit better than the CLB pros, but I thought I'd throw the question here to see if someone has played around and found a pair that work well.

Thanks!

13velos

How much brake reach does your bike require? From my limited experience, dual pivots generally don’t offer as much clearance as single pivots.

Piff 

Around 45mm, so pretty much any short reach (39mm-49mm) should work.

Good to know regarding single vs double...maybe I ought to go with the ol' tried and true 1050 single pivots.

mhespenheide 

I was just going to say, the old Shimano 105 BR-1050 calipers are great at this.

daverup 

I don't think that single or dual pivot will make that much difference when using narrow tires.
Here are a few of my dual pivots.
First, Shimano BR-6403 600/Ultegra/Tri-color on my 87 Puch,



Next Shimano BR-A410 RSX on my 76 Austro Daimler, the clearance is tight on this one as the bike was originally on tubulars and I'm on clinchers.



Finally, Campy dual pivots on my 83 Pro Miyata, tight even on the OE size 23mm clinchers. The original Dia Compe single pivots were just as tight vertically.

Piff 

You're right that most single vs double brakes are probably within a millimeter of vertical clearance (with exceptions like the CLB with hardware that hangs down), but those campy brakes are definitely not 'fender friendly'.

Maybe I ought to just save $$ and use my 6500 brakes...but I do like the feel of single pivots more.

Awesome pics, thank you!

nlerner

https://blackmtncycles.com/clearance-pt-ii-road-frames/

squirtdad

velo orange grand cru

Piff 

Very nice, looks like those BR600 calipers are basically standard reach versions of the 6500. Only problem now is the star nut behind the caliper bumps against my headset. The stronglight delta has a bulbous shape. Is it 'safe' to file it down a couple millimeters along the top of the nut? I assume it should be no problem, all it's doing is holding the caliper together, right?

3alarmer 

.
...if it were me, I'd find or make a smaller diameter spacer to slip on the caliper bolt, to push it out a little from the headset.

Piff 

Problem is that the further it's pushed out from the headset the closer it gets to the tire. Part of the reason why the CLB front brake on there currently is closer to the front tire than I'd like is because there's ~6mm of washers to get it far enough away from the headset.

As much as I like the delta headset, it really has made the front brake a bit of a headache.

tangerineowl

I filed a little off that area on my Modolo brakes as it was very slightly hitting the Delta lower. Zero issues.