Selecting cantilever brakes for old touring fork

Stevie

I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
old vintage pair?

Thanks,

A Muzi

Stevie wrote:
> I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
> Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
> result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
> cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
> old vintage pair?

Cantilevers and "V" are pretty much all of a group for geometry[1].
Frame and fork makers position brake studs both for rim diameter and for
width. It may be that the designer intended a skinnier rim than yours.
Modern touring bikes are about 80mm apart, some cross bikes smaller
around 75mm. A 1978 vintage tandem here today is set at 66mm (presumably
for a 19mm wide Araya 20A or some such). See what the distance is first.

Some vintage designs used a smallish pad and modern ones on the same
mounts may hit the fork blade on release, occluding the area for wheel
changes. You can snip off the back end of a brake pad for clearance with
no ill effects [2].

Lastly, Oryx uses a threaded not a smooth post. Make sure you have the
smaller pair of spacers on the inside or, if there still isn't room,
move all the spacers to the outside. You'll lose the shoe angle
adjustment but you'll have more space. Do oil the brake shoe nut threads.

[1] Yes, some models, as DC 960, were diminutive but if that was the
original brake you can usually work around the narrow stud position.
[2] Braking is all about swept area, not pad size.

p.s. Where's Tom Sherman, Mr Footnote ?
--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

landotter

On Jun 6, 7:06*pm, Stevie <73git...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
> Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
> result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
> cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
> old vintage pair?
>
Traditional smooth stud type might give you a skosh more room. Could
be a rim width problem.

Tektro 862A, Shimano Altus are two cheap modern versions worth a shot.
You can also move around the spacers on the Oryx, but then you'll
likely end up with no toe in and loud brakes.

Mark

Stevie wrote:
> I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
> Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
> result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
> cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
> old vintage pair?

The original Centurion Pro Tour (one of which I still have) didn't use
cantis, the braze-ons were located /above/ the rim's brake surface, to
fit a center-pull brake without the center "bridge" of the brake (both
arms pivoted on the braze-on studs). I think maybe the later Pro Tours
went to regular cantis, but I'm not sure.

I think Rene Herse did something similar on /some/ of his bikes:

See lower photo here:
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/images/herse1974.jpg

Middle photo here:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Fr...erse/Herse1.htm

I've no idea if Herse's setup is the same as the Centurion. I've often
wondered if the Centurion stud location would work for a roller-cam or
U-brake, but I've never tried.

Mark J.

landotter

On Jun 7, 1:43*pm, Mark <mandmljNOS...@NOSPAM.comcast.net> wrote:
> Stevie wrote:
> > I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
> > Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
> > result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
> > cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
> > old vintage pair?
>
> The original Centurion Pro Tour (one of which I still have) didn't use
> cantis, the braze-ons were located /above/ the rim's brake surface, to
> fit a center-pull brake without the center "bridge" of the brake (both
> arms pivoted on the braze-on studs). *I think maybe the later Pro Tours
> went to regular cantis, but I'm not sure.

Dia Compe Gran Compe cantis according to the '84 brochure:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/centuri...10pro-tour.html

Tom Kunich

"Mark" <mandmljNOSPAM@NOSPAM.comcast.net> wrote in message
news:w8ydnckQULFcS9fVnZ2dnUVZ_vednZ2d@comcast.com...
> Stevie wrote:
>> I've got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
>> Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis. As a
>> result I can't seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
>> cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up and
>> old vintage pair?
>
> The original Centurion Pro Tour (one of which I still have) didn't use
> cantis, the braze-ons were located /above/ the rim's brake surface, to fit
> a center-pull brake without the center "bridge" of the brake (both arms
> pivoted on the braze-on studs).

I rode a British bike set up this way and the center pull brakes really
worked extremely well - much better in my opinion, than anything else around
at the time.

James Thomson

"Stevie" <73gitane@gmail.com> a écrit:

> I’ve got a nice old Centurion Pro Tour frame with cantis braze ons.
> Seems the fork is narrower than newer forks equipped for cantis.
> As a result I can’t seem to fit Tektro Oryx brakes. Is there a new
> cantilever brake that is better suited or do I need to scrounge up
> and old vintage pair?

Are you using 700c wheels in a frame built for 27"? If so, that might not be
helping. You might try a design where the brake arm is a plain cylindrical
post that gives a little more freedom of pad location that a more
conventional slot. Most models that spring to mind (SRP, Avid Tri-Align, WTB
Speedmaster) are no longer made, but you might try eBay, e.g.:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=130228834128

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em=290236528548

James Thomson