Weinmann centre pull brake upgrade

[SSmatty]

after a scary experience this morning (in the dry!!) I think its time to upgrade my centre pull brakes.
Are there any brake pads that would offer a significant improvement over the ancient standard ones.
Or, should I just replace them with modern ones? Which ones?
I kind of want to keep the centre pulls for the retro feel, but not enough to kill myself for it.

 

[robgul]

My old Galaxy had centre-pulls and I replaced the pads with bolt-on Vee-brake pads with a better quality rubber and greater surface area on the rim. They made a big difference but were still not brilliant so I changed to the Alhonga dual-pivots with long drop to suit the change from 27 to 700 wheels

Rob

 

[ChrisEyles]

Salmon Koolstop pads are an excellent upgrade over old stock caliper pads and are well worth a go if you need a bit more braking power. I put a full set on my old 1960s racer a year or so ago (I have Mafac rather than Weinmann calipers, but basically similar), and they made the difference between scarily insufficient and 99.9%-OK. I say 99.9%... the stopping power still falls well short of the canti brakes on my tourer, and even further from the vee brakes on my wife's commuter, but this is about the best you can do with old centre-pull caliper brakes.

It's also worth spending some time making sure they're set up as well as you can possibly get them, if you haven't done already (pads nice and close to the rims). You can also fiddle around with the height of the straddle cable to alter mechanical advantage, though this is something I haven't tried myself yet.

They do look ace though

 

[tyred]

Weinmann centre pull brakes should be really powerful but do need quite a bit of hand pressure for best result.

Check/replace cables lubricate the brake lever pivot points and strip, clean and lubricate the pivots on the brakes and try again.