Brakes - Mafac Racer Puzzlement

[rasterdogs]

Do Mafac Racers come in different versions for bolting to fork crown/brake bridge and an alternate version for braze on mounting?

The question came to mind after watching a boxed set of NOS Mafac Racers on ebay.
Last I looked the price was > US $ 170.00. Clearly these must have been collector worthy

From all the Mafac Racers that I've seen I see how they can bolt on but wonder if they also work for braze-ons?

-Jim

[palincss]

I believe the identical brakes can be used either bolted-on, or, by taking them apart and removing the backing plate, brazed-on. It's one of the curiosities that these brakes were used on some of the cheapest, worst made of bikes, and also on some of the most expensive, best made bicycles ever. It's hard to think of anything else you can say that of.

Boxed sets of NOS parts are worth a lot more to collectors than the same parts without boxes, and there are early versions of the MAFAC brakes that are nicer than later specimens (brass bushings vs plastic, for example). The workings of collectors are beyond my understanding.

[Steve Hampsten]

There is a braze-on version and they work well with modern pads. The mounting studs need to be the same height as Paul Racers but 63mm apart and they require some Mafac-specific spring fiddling. A good old-school builder can figure it out if you want it on a new bike or to retro-fit an old frame.

I have a set of braze-on Mafac Competition brakes in gold with the drilled levers just waiting the correct frame to be built...

Dbrk, as in so many subjects, is the expert here.

[dbrk]

Okay, for brazing you need to remove the plates and place the brakes on the pivots that are brazed-on the fork. Virtually all Mafacs were made so that they could be center bolt mounted or dismantled to be placed on the braze-ons. Bolt through resulted in far less effective braking but good enough to inhibit speed.

As for the price, well, Competitions are an upgrade from Racers and considered a very good model. The $170 must be for the box 'cause it's not that good an upgrade... Tigers fetch big prices and 2000s work the best, as I recall. I'm stash proof now on Mafacs but can't seem to resist buying another set every once in awhile. 'Love'em, even when the modern Pauls version works, like, a million million times better. Caliper brakes also work better but don't have the proper clearances and design for wider mudguards and reach.

dbrk