The Campy U-brake is a massive thing as is the Shimano. I have some of the Campy ones but I've not
yet used them. I know the Shimano ones work very well and I'm sure the Campy ones would too. I had
U-brake posts brazed on at the rear of my custom Bilenky touring frame because U-brakes don't stick
out to the sides and interfere with panniers like cantilever brakes do. I used a DiaCompe U-brake on
my Bilenky and it works great. The advantage of the DiaCompe was that it was still in production at
the time (and may still be) and that it's much less clunky looking than the Campy or Shimano brake
but still nicely stiff and powerful. I've not seen a Tektro U-brake but I've been favorably
impressed with all the other Tektro stuff i've seen.
A U-brake may be somewhat oddball but far less so than a Mafac with or without brazed on bosses.
A further consideration is that the Campy and Shimano U brakes use the spherical ball type brake
shoes like a V-brake so they're easy to adjust. The DiaCompe uses the smooth post type shoe like
most cantilever brakes. The advantage of these is that it's easy to get the short brake shoes that
work better on the front of a bike with a narrow road type fork. However, Kool Stop made me some
custom short spherical ball type shoes when I asked them to and didn't even charge extra. Nice
people to deal with.
Bob Taylor
"Gary Jacobson" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> > I gotta ask though - why? I can see where you'd want these brakes to replace an ABrake or a
> > UBrake that was rusted. But you're _adding_ the posts, right? Generally, cantilevers are lighter
> > and easier to work with
> in
> > most respects. Owners of Ritcheys/Bridgestones/TerraTechs sold here with Euclid brakes whine
> > asking for cantilevers
>
> I have never really like setting up cantilevers, and thought that it might be nice to use a Mafac
> centerpull mounted on bosses on a frame that I am having built for me. It'll be an audax style
> bike, and there is something about tradition, as irrational as it is, that keeps popping up when I
> make decisions. Also irrationally, I have an aversion to the brand that begins with Sh. I thought
> that by using Euclids I could have an all Campy audax bike. There are other ways to do it all
> Campy, like find older calipers with "long reach". When will Campy make a longer reach modern
> caliper and a 110 bcd crank? They'd certainly sell a fair amount of this stuff.
>
> I didn't know that U brakes, or centerpulls on studs are easier to work on than cantilevers. I may
> very well leave emotion behind and get some Tecktro or Shimano calipers.
>
> BTW, I really believe that many choices we make around cycling hardware are emotionally based. I
> just told a kid in the neighborhood bike shop who was lamenting about his inability to afford a
> high end bike that he, nor I, nor most people would know the difference between a $600.00 bike and
> a $1200. one. In fact what 600. buys these days used to cost $1200.00. I doubt that I could really
> tell the difference between a $1200. bike and the ones that I ride.
>
> Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY