Re: [CR]Ballila brakes?

(Example: Production Builders)

From: "Randy Blatt" <hirelevel@mindspring.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, "Jan Heine" <heine@mindspring.com>
References: <20021204074000.16568.71026.Mailman@phred.org> <a05010416ba1409746887@[66.167.137.90]>
Subject: Re: [CR]Ballila brakes?
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 19:53:37 -0500

Hi All, Balilla brakes came stock on the worst bike I ever owned. It was a Vainquer, in provincial gold purchased from a bike shop on Long Island called Willy Mae in Nassau County. If I recall correctly these brakes had very flimsy bushings which left the calipers extremely wobbly and I do recall the distinctive crunch of the calipers rubbing against each other when activated. This bike was memorable to me in other ways . The BB cups ripped away from the frame after maybe a month or two. The bike shop 'fixed' this by welding the cups to the frame. My father and I were actually ok with the repair until the weld broke. I believe my father then escalated the problem and got his money back on the bike. My what a piece of XXXX it was!
Randy Blatt
Raleigh NC


----- Original Message -----
From: Jan Heine
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 2:36 PM
Subject: [CR]Ballila brakes?



> Ballila centerpull brakes - when used and are they good? I've seen
> them on cheap bikes, but were they originally used on top-level
> bikes, or did those only use Universal?
>
> Were there different models? Anybody got some levers for these?
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
> Jan Heine, Seattle