cyrano138

I'm finishing up converting my 77 Raleigh super course to a fixed gear. The original wienman brakes are center pull and in my opinion kind of big and clunky for a nice sleek fixed gear. I'd like to install a basic aluminum side pull front brake and run it to the top of the bars to a short lever.

Can anyone recommend a brake+lever set? I forget what the diameter of the old road drops are near the stem but I can always measure that.

I've had good luck with origin8 stuff but to be honest with you I've also had good luck with sunlite stuff. I'm really not fancy. I like stuff to be durable, not flashy, and inexpensive as possible.

Thanks for any help!

Jack

acoustophile

If it's an old road conversion then you probably need long reach brakes. I usually use Tektro R559 for my conversions.

SkinGriz

I would measure the reach and get the Tektro that works. I think the tektro dual pivot is worth the extra 10$ or whatever on Amazon. And kool stop pads.

cyrano138

That's what I wound up going with!

Do you guys have a lever you'd recommend? Something for the top of the drop bars.

SkinGriz

[size=16px]Tektro fl750? They look nice. Seem to be for short pull, non linear pull brakes. No barrel adjuster. Have not used myself.[/size]

I am running the tektro bmx levers. I am going to run dia-Comp ss6 levers next. They look like the levers are a little longer giving more leverage/power.

cyrano138

I like them but it seems like they only make them for 22.2 bars. My bars are 24mm (near the stem where I'd mount it).
I remember going into this rabbit hole before. I miss the early 2000s when everyone and their mom was riding fixed gears and you could get whatever you wanted. Now there's so little to choose from -- especially in the older style. Seems like now it's heavier frames, wider tires, and 48inch bars. Mountain bike-y. No judgement, just not for me. Of course, the 12inch bars back in the day were pretty dumb.

IAmSam

Tektro, and its companions Cane Creek and Soma, offer 24mm inline levers. Good luck...

cyrano138

Thank you. I always figured cane creek and soma were out of my price range, but their stuff doesn't look too bad.

SkinGriz

Shoot. I missed the 24mm part. Sorry.

cyrano138

No worries!

tommymc

Too bad the FL750's only come with 22.2 clamps. They are cheap, elegantly simple and have nice long levers for a good pull on old brakes. They solved a problem I had with cantilevers and a Velo Orange Crazy bar 22.2 ends. On my fixed conversion with Origin8 Tiki bars (mustache type in road diameters) I tried inline levers but they seem to lack power and feel for my old center-pull calipers. Incidentally, the long reach versions of the Weinmann center-pull or Dia-Compe 750 copies have enough reach for 700c wheels on an old 27" frame and have a nice vintage look. Now I've switched the conversion back to a regular drop bar and old style road levers. The only drop bars I know of with 22.2 ends are Soma Gators.

TugaDude

Brakes are not something to try to save money on in my opinion. Whatever you do, don't sacrifice function for looks or for budget.

TMonk

Used dura ace 7800 brakes on Ebay FTW. But only if they're long enough

cyrano138

I agree, I really wanted them. I feel like this is kind of what I was talking about above. There was a time when fixing up 70s and 80s road bikes and/or converting then to fixed was very popular. I think now that's it's essentially gone out of style it's harder to find stuff made to fit those vintage bikes. Take bottom brackets -- it used to be easy and cheap to get basic, unsealed, brackets but now it's all sealed. You can find a sealed cartridge that fits, but it's bit the same stuff.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've ridden a lot of cheap ass bikes with cheap ass components in the last 35 years and I've yet to have a brake fail. I understand paying for a certain threshold of quality, but that threshold has always been pretty low for me. In almost 4 decades of riding I've never crashed from anything but user error. I appreciate the advice though.

I'll check this out, thanks!

tommymc

I had a Super Course of about the same vintage as yours. I believe that the center pulls on it are Weinmann 610's with spec;d reach of 50 to 65mm. Those nice Dura Ace calipers only go to 49mm so will probably not reach on your frame. A bigger problem on an old frame is the lack of a recessed mounting in the fork crown. I don't know of many dual pivot calipers with a long enough bolt and nut option except Tektro R539 and R559's.

I tend to agree with you about braking needs in certain situations. A single-geared bike is not likely to carry a heavy luggage load in hilly terrain. And as you're in Florida (where I spend most of the year) the steepest descents are likely on a short bridge. So if I had a total front brake failure I guess it would be time for a skid stop. But while I'm temporarily in Upstate New York with a fixed bike I do feel the need for good brakes on both ends.

cyrano138

Finally basically done. Honestly it didn't involve much real mechanic work. I bought a set of fixed hub wheels, and stripped everything off.

The chain line was already spot on. Didn't have to re-dish, or swap out for a shorter bb spindle length. Years ago, before I knew how, I had a friend replace the bb and he put a 122mm in. It was actually too short by a hair because the inner ring rubbed slightly on the chain stay which I'm thrilled about now because it saved me the trouble for this conversion.

I kept the original cranks and chainring (just removed the inner chainring), bought a 14 tooth cog for the rear, out a nice shiny 3/32 chain on, and did a basic service on the headset bearings and cleaned er up.

cyrano138

The fact that I'm in Florida really opens up the possibilities for just what constitutes adequate brakes. Can I stop in time to avoid running that alligator over? Yes? Perfect.
I rode my first fixed gear, a 2007 Fuji track that I'll never forgive myself for selling, without brakes successfully for almost a year before I put one on at the behest of a mechanic buddy.

I ordered one that had a range of 59 to 69 I think. I measured the weinmans at just about 60mm.