Brake performance old v new

[Alwaysbroken]

Having recently completed my sort of pathracer build, I am astounded at the brake performance even compared to good quality modern brakes.

My road bike has 105 br5800’s with Swistop shoes & pads.

So this old knacker of a pathracer has the old levers shown in the pic, old rsx callipers and £5 Jagwire brake blocks. I’ve given the old girl a good bit of playtime the weekend & the brakes feel progressive and will fairly easily throw the back wheel in the air, in fact my son was doing rolling stoppies on it puts my 105 BR5800’s to shame.

Bit of an eye opener as I’ve never bought budget brakes before let alone a miss match of bits & bobs like this.

 

[Drago]

People forget how good old brakes can somerimes be in their haste to extol the virtues of modern stoppers. The centrepull Weinmanns on my Claud, with decent cables and modern blocks, are sufficient to lift the back wheel if I dont shift my centre of gravity rearward when grabbing a handful.

 

[Levo-Lon]

It's weight more than anything tho.
Can you imagine some big old chrome side pulls on a Road bike nowadays..

I've got plenty of scars from great brakes from the 70s and 80s

 

[Yellow Saddle]

View attachment 447357 Having recently completed my sort of pathracer build, I am astounded at the brake performance even compared to good quality modern brakes.

My road bike has 105 br5800’s with Swistop shoes & pads.

So this old knacker of a pathracer has the old levers shown in the pic, old rsx callipers and £5 Jagwire brake blocks. I’ve given the old girl a good bit of playtime the weekend & the brakes feel progressive and will fairly easily throw the back wheel in the air, in fact my son was doing rolling stoppies on it puts my 105 BR5800’s to shame.

Bit of an eye opener as I’ve never bought budget brakes before let alone a miss match of bits & bobs like this.

Stupid bloody showoff. Hooligan. Kids of today.




I wish I could do that. Respect.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

Stupid bloody showoff. Hooligan. Kids of today.




I wish I could do that. Respect.

Yep!

But a bike isn’t an ornament, we were strolling around Bristol docks last year & young’un stuck a quid in one of those yellow hire bike things, he rode it along the harbour side on the back wheel & we heard a boat horn, it was the harbour master boat with crew on board all giving thumbs up seeing how far he could keep it up! So the flash sod did laps on it round a lamp post front wheel still aloft

I so wish I could do it as well as he can.

 

[chriscross1966]

I rode a bike which had a set of Campagnolo Mirage single-pivots on a while ago, granted it had Koolstop pads in it but those old D500 pattern calipers give both a fantastic feel as well as a stupid amount of stopping force.....

 

[fossyant]

My Dura Ace 'single pivot' brakes (1989-90 7400) are astoundingly good, even out perform most dual pivot.

 

[si_c]

Nothing wrong with older brakes, setup correctly they will work as well as modern brakes. The problem as I understand it was steel or chrome rims and wet weather. I've got a steel bike with Mafac Racer centrepull brakes, even in the wet it brakes "ok" more than adequate to lift or lock up the rear wheel. Still, in the wet, I'll take my disc braked bike nearly every time.

 

[12boy]

Mine have always worked just fine except when wet or clogged with mud or snow. They are easily worked on and cheap to maintain, new pads cable and cable housing being the extent of usual maintenance. They wear out rims after a while especially when road grit is involved. They can get very hot going downhill with little (16 or 20 inch) wheels being the worst. With those caveats aside they work well and are dependable.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I found dual pivots a huge improvement when they were introduced. Sure, you can lock the front wheel with the older brakes but DPs need less lever pressure giving much more control over your braking.

 

[Drago]

It's weight more than anything tho.
Can you imagine some big old chrome side pulls on a Road bike nowadays..

I've got plenty of scars from great brakes from the 70s and 80s

Even worse, chrome rims...in the rain!

 

[Rowano]

A lot of effort in current brakes goes into modulation as well as stopping power. It's all well and good being able to lock up wheels at the smallest touch of the brake lever.... But not always advisable!

 

[Grant Fondo]

I put some Avid Shortys on the old Crackendale. After a light sand of the Sun rims stops like a beast. Easily as good as BR 685 Discs on road bike and Canny s 2kg heavier

 

[tyred]

Modern brakes in my experience need less effort to operate but if you have the hand strength, the old ones are just as powerful.

I upgraded my Viscount to dual pivots as I thought they'd be better but I don't think that they are.

 

[rogerzilla]

Some older brakes are flexible, which limits their power a bit. Mafac Racers aren't very stiff. They'd still stop you with decent pads and cables but they'll always be a bit mushy. Really long-reach sidepulls are the worst; I briefly tried some 100mm drop Dia-Compe brakes and you might as well have put a foot down for all the good they did. If you really need brake reach of over 60mm, which is common on older frames when you stick 700c wheels on, centre-pulls look better than long-reach dual pivots.