Drew Eckhardt 

FYI, Campagnolo brake return springs part BR-RE008 dual pivot and BR-RE108 rear differential are wear items you want to keep on hand for when they break.

Also note that the Kool Stop Super Record 2011 pads are compatible with 2000+ holders, and the separate Campy 2000 model is apparently discontinued.

Be sure to jam the large nut adjacent to the star washer against the one holding the return spring, flipping that out of the way so you can use a 13mm cone wrench on it. Otherwise you'll lose your preload adjustment when reinstalling the brake.

This spring was cracked, connected by a sliver, and spongy - I finished it off for illustrative purposes. I spotted that replacing my pads because the right one reached its wear limit at its front..

Andrew R Stewart 

I haven't seen very many of these (of any brand) caliper springs break, a few but it's rare. What I have seen are springs that have lost their springiness, often enough. There was a period (I suspect more then a production batch) when Dia Compe calipers suffered from this (early 1980s). We would rebend the springs to retain pad retraction function. Andy

Drew Eckhardt 

This one took 30,715 miles plus whatever the caliper had on it when I bought it used.

Something on that order would be right for the front and rear springs on Athena dual pivots I bought new in 1997 then broke between 2008 and 2010. More than an estimate isn't possible since I eschewed bike computers for over a decade after my 1990s purple Avocet 45 died.

Andrew R Stewart 

Drew- I ran Avocet 50s for many years but never had my Campy caliper springs break Andy

gearbasher

I've broken two BR-RE008s. Yup. I now keep a couple on hand.

Steve Mcqueen

Good morning from South West London! A question for the nerdiest Campag nerds amongst you: A few days ago, I was cleaning my rear (single pivot) Athena skeleton brake (not sure what year it is, bought it on Ebay). The spring flew off and landed in a flower bed. I was angry with myself as this is the second time I have made this mistake. I have not been able to find it. I did some Googling and then bought a BR RE-208. I fitted the new spring to the caliper, but something is not quite right. When I press the calipers together, the spring pops out, see the point have marked on the attached pic.

Whilst idly surfing this morning, I came across a spring with a slightly different part number: BR-RE108 It looks the same, but perhaps there is a subtle difference. I ordered it, it should arrive in the next days.

I'll let you know if it works or not, but does anyone have any comments or suggestions?
Thanks
Steve

p.s. It seems that I'm not able to post photos or links...

Andrew R Stewart 

There's a 10 posts threshold before this forum will allow in post photos. However you can post them in the Gallery and have one of us transfer them here.

I suspect Campy had a huge batch of these springs made and has just been "feeding off of" that stock for years. For this many springs to break at the same area over a few years of replacements being installed suggests some "defect". Poor material choice, under sized cross sections, forming booboos, heat treatment problems, finishing/plating issues are all possible and if a there's a bad set up or treatment it could be hundreds of springs before the problem is corrected. Andy (whose NR calipers never had this problem)

mpetry912 

if you bought it used and ran it for 30K miles you got your money's worth. But thanks for the info on laying in a replacement.

/markp