I am putting the final touches on my Eroica bike (1982 Trek 710).
Todo list:
Aside from that, the braking performance is awful. The rims are aluminum, and I’ve put fresh salmon pads in the calipers. Any thoughts on an appropriate lever/caliper combo that would work slightly better? The current levers and calipers are the original Dia Compe ones.
How period-correct do you want/need to be?
as long as it conforms to the eroica rules, i’m not hugely fussed. i was trying to figure out what the most performant non-aero levers were last night without much success.
Love that Trek font
Dual Pivot calipers may be more powerful if they allow them. Ultegra BR-6500 are silver so won’t stick out so much as a more “modern” brake.
Of coarse there’s Campy $$$$.
This is basically where I was going. It seems as if dual pivot brakes fall within the rules. Velo Orange also has a set that look beefy.
A bit more toe in that you’d usually expect might help.
interesting. i struggled to get them to toe in at all.
Close up photos of the brake areas might help…
My Peugeot came with Mafac competition brakes, and I actually found them pretty damn good. I don’t see why they wouldn’t work on the Trek. I did Montalcino Tuscany and Japan Eroica’s. So much fun.
That looks nice! My wife and I met at the California Eroica in 2016. And yeah, actually usable fearing rather than what race bros of 1984 used is good.
On braking: can you share a pic of the brakes on that bike? Salmon pads are a good thing, but some single pivot brakes of that era are too flimsy to be saved.
The only time I’ve been legit scared in braking power dept was with Dia Compe single pivot brakes that came OEM on a 1981 Nishiki. And this was with new pads, good setup. I don’t think toe in will have much to increase your power, I thought that’s more about avoiding squeal.
But I can’t extrapolate off that too much - I’ve gotten plenty of braking power out of calipers of the same type with arms that look similarly skinny, and even from the same manufacturer. I can come back and post a few pictures once I’m on my computer.
If you end up sticking a dual pivot, I’d say do it just for the fun brake unless the inconsistency bothers you. Those have impressive power even by today’s standards. But the rear brake doesn’t need to do anything more than lock up the rear wheel, which is fairly easy since it’s behind your center of gravity.
i’d say these are similar to yours - single pivot gran compe brakes from 1981/1982
Looks nice!
Hmmmm… Maybe alcohol wipe the braking surfaces of the rims, scuff with a very fine sandpaper, and then clean with alcohol again?
I strongly concur with all the folks who recommended dual pivot brakes. From the photos, what you have looks like a nice imitation of Campy Nuovo Record calipers, which just won’t work well by modern standards. Whereas any dual pivot caliper with appropriate reach should be noticeably better. There should be a suitable Tektro model, and it won’t be particularly expensive.
The period levers probably have terrible ergonomics, but the leverage should be fine.
Oh - check if you need brakes with a recessed nut, or with an external nut.
Huh. My Gran Compe single pivot brakes (from 1978 Miyata) are my counterexample of good braking despite appearing flimsy. And yours look like thicker arms than mine.
Since you’ve got new (if vintage style) salmon pads I doubt pad/rim contact is part of the problem. Though you could stick modern pads (at least on the front brake, to test) to make sure.
Next things I’d try, although you’ve probably got your progression already laid out:
If you go with a dual pivot brake make sure to confirm what reach (how far the brake bolt is from the rim) is required for your bike. With the wheel out, measure from the center of the mounting bolt of the caliper straight down to the centers of the pads to see what will fit. Most brakes will accommodate about a 10mm adjustment range.
Yeah regular modern dual pivots won’t have enough reach, that much is very clear from the photos. I switched from something like that (my recollection of brakes like that is that they tended to feel pretty noodly regardless of model) to Tektro R559 on one bike which looks about the same as yours and they feel like other dual pivots I use.
Other than that, thoroughly cleaning the rims would be near the top of my agenda. Could try any of alcohol, acetone, Brakleen, probably better to remove the tyres first.
If the cable hosing is old it may be compressing when you pull the brakes. If you’ve not already done so you could try some compression less housing for the front brake. It might not clear the frame for the rear brake but new standard housing and cables may assist.
Do Eroica allow in-line tension adjusters? If so you might want to add these to the mix to allow for pad degradation
i scrubbed the rims with acetone and lightly sanded them when i got the bike, so they should be ok.
