Funny you should say that as I had considered saying it too.I find they work very well with modern levers.
I rarely see cars on some of my route, but one morning last week I saw three on the same stretch and all three were haring it along.Yep. We have a network of lovely little single track roads. Very rarely much on them but there is always the occasional vehicle or occasionally a deer shoot out or something. When I see some riders Strava speeds on segments on some of them they must be taking huge risks to cover them at the speeds they do.
The Revell mixte I'm doing up has Ritchey Logic mtb levers on Weinmann side pulls, and after thinking I'd put on matching levers from a donor bike, I'm going to leave them as-is.I'd say to anyone who wants to improve the brakes on an old road bike to start with the brake levers rather the callipers.
I would have thought that the car driver would have stopped to see how you were. Perhaps they saw you getting up in their mirror and assumed that you were okay but seems very wrong .
I find that it's always best to ride downhill with your hands covering your brake levers , for one thing you are more aerodynamic and the other is that you can grab a handful of brake if needed.
I'm also very wary when passing farm gates as tractors have a tendency to just fly out on the assumption that there will be nobody there (also, the big Devon banks make it hard to see anything in advance).
Newer brake pads of the newer materials will also help with the Weinmann center pulls. I think I still have Weinmann Vanquers on my single speed .
Thanks for this thread.Will look into that, cheers. The current blocks are the old-style small, square rubber blocks in the separate alloy shoes. Adequate back in the day, but perhaps brakes are too important to have second best. I'm not that wedded to originality!
The Weinmann centre pulls I have on a bike were supplied with Kool Stop brake blocks. I couldn't get along with the original Weinmann levers.
With modern brake levers such as the Tektro R340, or Campagnolo ergolevers, they've been excellent in stopping power - but this meant brake cables running under the bar tape. I was happy to forget authenticity for decent brakes.
I think a lot of younger riders set their brake levers for too high on the bars to be able to brake easily, I've had mine like this since the 70's
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I've seen similar happen with an actual tractor! Very scary, even as the following rider!Halfway through a blind sweeping left bend I'd let the bike wander into the middle of a quite narrow lane and was doing maybe 25mph. Chelsea tractor driver coming up the lane made the same mistake. A quick dart to the inside for me and outside for him and we missed each other by mere inches.
Pembrokeshire lanes the same. I always recite in my head (rolling Pembs farmer accent) "I've been coming out of this gate without looking for 40 years, and my father before me, and his father before him, and I'm not going to start now!"
There's a farm a mile up the road where the farmer has a habit of driving his telehandler out of his narrow gate *on a blind bend* with the forks down at chest height. He's a complete menace.
Weinmann centre pulls haul me up pretty well. Not as good as modern brakes, but not remotely shabby either.
Chances are if the bike is a little older that the brake pads have become harder and so less effective. A new set of pads (Koolstop work for me) is likely to improve the performance noticably. Ensuring that the straddle wire is set at an appropriate height is also important. As mentioned above centrepull brakes are very effective - easily as effective as a good set of dual pivot brakes - but they do require more setup.Newer brake pads of the newer materials will also help with the Weinmann center pulls. I think I still have Weinmann Vanquers on my single speed .
Modern Shimano levers have a contoured shape which improves braking from the hoods - older levers are less effective. That being said with older steel bikes the handlebars were much higher than modern road bikes so the drops were used more frequently. There are a few articles detailing this kicking around but I can't find them just at the moment.Nowt wrong with the Weinmanns, but after years of riding flat bar bikes I had forgotten how little leverage you have on the brake levers when riding on the brake hoods. Enough to control your speed, but not for an emergency stop. Lessons learned.