Upgrade rim brakes on classic bike

[fcriscuo]

I've owned a 78 Masi Gan Criterium with SR Campy components since 1984. The bike is an absolute joy to ride. Unfortunately, I've gotten spoiled riding newer bikes with significantly better brakes, especially disc brakes. This issue has become more acute with my recent move to a hilly part of Southern California. I'm on a 40+ mph descent with a stoplight at the bottom almost as soon as leave my house. I have already upgraded the cable set and installed Kool Stop brake pads. I'd like to know if there are adapters available that would allow me to mount a set of high-quality rim brakes to the Masi frame. Thanks in advance.

[cnighbor1]

What brakes mounted now?
Aren't dual pivot brakes the best in rim brakes?

[AngryScientist]

Does the current set of brakes use a through bolt and nut or recessed brake nuts?

If the latter modern brakes should mount up just fine. If the former, you have a few options...

[arimajol]

If you're running 80's Campy calipers, they're single pivot. Dual pivots are going to be a significant upgrade. Only problem is that I'd bet the frame takes nutted calipers, rather than recessed. You can get the fork crown and brake bridge drilled out to accept the newer attachment style. It's a bit of a bother, but shouldn't be expensive. Some opt not to drill if keeping it original is important. If the bike is for riding, I'd drill them.

[cgolvin]

I feel you. I face the same challenge on my '78 Gios. I believe that some people have had their fork and rear brake bridge drilled to allow them to mount newer style brakes but I didn't feel comfortable doing that, especially since I'd want to be able to revert to NR brakes for Eroica (EDIT: @arimajol beat me to this point).

The best improvement I've found is to mount newer brake shoes and pads on the old calipers -- that allows for more pad area on the rim and newer brake pad material. But since there is variation in the length of these shoes and the size of the mounting hardware, not all newer shoes will work. I believe I was able to mount shoes from Chorus 11 silver calipers while some older Centaur shoes didn't work, but please don't take my word for it -- other more knowledgeable members might be able to specify exactly which shoes to search out.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find just the shoes -- I ended up buying an extra set of calipers just to get the shoes.

If you succeed, maybe post back to tell others what did/didn't work. Good luck.

[Ozz]

The good news (regardless of your solution) is that you won't need to worry about "bedding" the brake pads or squealing noises!

[Mark McM]

A bike from 1978 is likely to use 'nutted' bolts - in other words, the mounting bolts go all the way through the frame and fork, and are tightened with a standard nut. Most rim brakes in the last few decades use 'recessed' mounting, in which the back the nut is recessed into counterbores in the frame/fork.

However, there are a few modern dual pivot brakes available with 'nutted' bolts (exposed nuts). Several models are made by Tektro, which are decent quality. The difficulty might be the brake reach - 'nutted' brake calipers are most commonly found on medium and long reach brakes, but not for short reach. If you're bike takes medium or long reach brakes, then you can probably find replacements that bolt right up. If you bike requires short reach brakes, then there are still ways to deal with it, but they take a bit more ingenuity.

[sg8357]

The Pentagon fix is two allen bolt front brakes, use a front brake on the rear,
with a nut & washer. In the front, you drill the fork crown rear only, to fit the brake allen bolt, the use a long front brake allen, like comes with a carbon fork.
You do not drill the front hole of the fork crown.

A one time Tektro would sell you a nutted bolt kit to convert, their allen brakes to nutted.

[rustychisel]

Originally Posted by sg8357

The Pentagon fix is two allen bolt front brakes, use a front brake on the rear,
with a nut & washer. In the front, you drill the fork crown rear only, to fit the brake allen bolt, the use a long front brake allen, like comes with a carbon fork.
You do not drill the front hole of the fork crown.

A one time Tektro would sell you a nutted bolt kit to convert, their allen brakes to nutted.

This is the good oil, but look to your wheels also.

Massive braking efficiency achieved by having machined alloy rims over old 60s and 70s etc extruded and finished rims. New pads matched to new rims = goodness.

[Peter P.]

I'll play devil's advocate.

Yeah; you've been spoiled with dual pivot brakes and disc brakes.

But there should be plenty of braking power with your single pivot brakes. The pros raced them for decades without a problem, and so did amateurs like me.

I had Super Record brakes and could lock 'em up any time I wanted, but they had plenty of modulation as well.

[Waldo62]

I can certainly empathize. I have vintage ('70s-'80s) bikes that I've resto-modded with 11- and 12-speed Campy groups. Those have recessed brake fittings. I have had one bike's fork drilled to accept recessed brakes and that works well. I do have bikes with brakes with nutted fittings, and I just suffer. I've found period-correct Suntour Superbe (not Superbe Pro) brakes to work significantly better than Campy SR and they look close enough to SR for my purposes. I have them on my otherwise Campagnolo-equipped Ron Cooper, and I'm not shy about riding this bike down very steep hills. (I don't care about the all-Campy thing quite as much as others. I even put MTB SPDs on my 1975 Masi GC and rode it on Eroica California in 2018 (shhhhhh....).)

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

I even put MTB SPDs on my 1975 Masi GC and rode it on Eroica California in 2018 (shhhhhh....).)

That was YOU? Tut, tut, sir.

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by rustychisel

This is the good oil, but look to your wheels also.



Massive braking efficiency achieved by having machined alloy rims over old 60s and 70s etc extruded and finished rims. New pads matched to new rims = goodness.

This!

On my Peugeot Super Competition I have spindly Spidel Gen I calipers, but I'm using Jaguar cables and housing with late model Dura Ace carriers and pads. With NOS Mavic MA3 rims (okay not the most modern) it actually stop on a dime!

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.

[Steve in SLO]

The one thing you didn’t do mention in your original post is cleaning your rims. Over the years lots of gunk and film can build up. You could use a Scotch-Brite pad soaked with rubbing alcohol to rub the braking surface until you see no more black marks.

[Waldo62]

Oh yeah, that was me all right. I wasn't gonna try to get out of cleats and straps on a dirt-rocky 12% grade, then walk in those shoes. Hell no! Next time, watch for me on my pearl baby blue Marastoni with SPD-compatible Look pedals.

Originally Posted by cgolvin

That was YOU? Tut, tut, sir.