Adjusting older campagnolo brakes

Clean the place where the return springs make contact with each caliper arm. Clean between the
spring and the aluminum protrusion from the caliper arms. Then, once clean, lubricate the contact
point with oil or grease. That should help.

Once this is clean and lubricated, you might need to loosen the caliper pivot bolt from the rear
(where it attaches to the fork), then rotate the entire assembly until centered, then tighten the
pivot bolt. There is usually a wrench flat on an alluminum piece just behind the calipers, where the
return spring attaches to the center, that can help in rotating the entire assembly to center.
Although, it can be difficult to get a wrench in there. You'll need a thin wrench, like a cone
wrench. Park Tools makes wrenches especially for centering brakes.

It requires some patience, but can be done!

dcg said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

The front brake tends to rub on the right hand side of the rim after the brakes are applied. i.e.
they're not centering.

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center?

David Griffith

There are flats for a cone spanner on the brake body just near where it meets the bike frame. Loosen
the mounting bolt, centre the brake shoes on the rim, and hold the brake body in position with the
cone spanner while you tighten the mounting bolt.

Nick

Quoted message said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

The front brake tends to rub on the right hand side of the rim after the brakes are applied. i.e.
they're not centering.

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center?

dcg said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

The front brake tends to rub on the right hand side of the rim after the brakes are applied. i.e.
they're not centering.

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center?

Slip a 14mm cone wrench on the centerbolt wrench flat between the spring and the fork.

Turn to the center, oil the ends of the spring, snap the brake a few times and recheck the
centering. Ensure the mounting bolt is oiled and tight and you won't have much trouble with
this again.

Note to curmudgeons: Yes, this is an theoretically imperfect design but if you adjust the caliper
tension and oil the spring ends they do not wander in practice.

Oh, start by ensuring the wheel is exactly centered in the bike! Use your fingers. Commonly riders
"center" the brake only to find it was OK to begin with and the wheel was off center.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

mumbo-<< The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

The front brake tends to rub on the right hand side of the rim after the brakes are applied. i.e.
they're not centering.

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center? >><BR><BR>

13mm cone wrench or 13mm 90 degree brake tool. Flats on the back of the brake close to where it
attaches to the fork/frame-Turn these flats to center.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

dcg said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

See the instructions here: parktool.comsidepull.shtmlOpen ↗

I'm not sure *all* the advice you have been given is correct for your brakes.

~PB

Quoted message said:

13mm cone wrench or 13mm 90 degree brake tool. Flats on the back of the brake close to where it
attaches to the fork/frame-Turn these flats to center.

Peter Chisholm

Absolutely correct, Peter, but if the infamous "toothed washer" is used you need to break the
indentations be loosening the brake first before tightening it again. If not the brake will tend to
return to its old position. Phil Brown

dcg said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

The front brake tends to rub on the right hand side of the rim after the brakes are applied. i.e.
they're not centering.

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center?

Use a 13mm cone wrench on the slots on the pivot bolt to re-center the calipers. Sometimes it helps
to have a box wrench on the nut fastening the pivot bolt on the back of the fork to help it turn.

--

-John ([email hidden])

David Griffith said:

I have an older Guerciotti with Campagnolo brakes. I think the brakes are either Chorus, C-Record,
or Athena. The front or the mounting bolt is 'pointy'.

Quoted message said:

The front brake tends to rub on the right side of the rim after releasing the brake. i.e. they're
not centering.

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know of a procedure for ensuring these old brakes return to center?

This effect brought us dual pivot brakes that are forcefully centered (and cannot track a bent
wheel). The brake in question did not change nor did the spring get soft. What happened is that
friction between the spring and brake arm on one side increased because it got dirtier than one on
the other side. Usually a drop of oil on both spring contact points on left and right brake arm,
will re-center the brake. Adjusting the center bolt is only a temporary fix. It will go off center
again when the other side also gets higher friction.

After applying oil, momentarily lift the spring out of its groove by holding the brake pad against
the rim and pulling back on the spring so that the applied oil can get to the where he spring slides
in its slot. The best approach is to disengage the spring from both arms and clean their slot before
putting a dab of grease in there.

Whatever you do, don't take a hammer and punch to pound on the spring as I used to see bike
mechanics do when we were all riding single pivot brakes. That is destructive. It isn't the shape of
the spring that causes the problem, but rather loss of lubrication. Nothing else has changed from
the time the brake was installed and worked properly.

Jobst Brandt [email hidden]