> <<.....brake calipers ............. it needs nutted attachments and
mine
>have recessed hex bolts. ..............what about drilling out the mounting
>holes? I assume this is no problem with the fork crown, but I also assume
>it's out of the question for the rear brake because it would weaken the
>seatstay bridge? >>
>
>There is a risk of boogering up the rear bridge for sure and also it is hard
>to get the proper angle for careful drilling on the back side of that
bridge.
>If you are stripping the frame anyway, there are a few varieties of pre-made
>inserts that can be easily silver brazed into the rear brake bridge to
>reinforce it. If you decide to use something like that let me know and I can
>hook you up. A pro bike paint service will also be able to do it.
Another option you might consider. Back when allen nut mountings became the fashion, some people converted their NR/SR nutted calipers to allen nut to work with their new fashionable frames by replacing the center thru-bolts. Cheaper than buying new brakes, then and now. I have picked up several new/used "nutted" thru-bolts at swaps either as loose parts or by buying mangled calipers for cheap, and reversed the process on some allen calipers that were just too good a bargain to pass up over a "trivial little detail" like mounting hardware. The bolt on your existing "front" caliper is probably long enough to work as-is for the rear with a nut, so you might just need to find a longer nutted "front" thru-bolt. (sorry, it's been a while since I performed these operations and I forget the details. Or maybe it was all just a bad dream). Not sure if the bolts from the Campy clones made by Suntour & Shimano will work. I haven't been that desperate yet. I always figure it's safer/cheaper to mangle the components to make them work with a frame, rather than mangle a frame to work with the components.
Larry "slightly mangled but functional / still allen free" Osborn