Re: Fwd: [CR]Mafac pads

(Example: Events)

From: "Raoul Delmare" <R.Delmare@Charter.net>
To: "C.R. List" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <1a8fc11ace79.1ace791a8fc1@icomcast.net> <p05200f49ba721e5fa310@[10.0.1.31]>
Subject: Re: Fwd: [CR]Mafac pads
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 09:07:20 -0600


I'll never be able to look at Mafac brakes again , without a little shiver ( as they reach out for me , with their cold sticky tentacles . . . ) !!

Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas


----- Original Message -----
From: Sheldon Brown
To: Mara & Steven Maasland


Rendezvous" <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 10:28 PM Subject: Re: Fwd: [CR]Mafac pads

At 9:17 AM -0500 2/13/03, Mara & Steven Maasland wrote:
>Jan wrote:
>
>Maybe somebody else has more info... I have never seen other brake
>pads than the current ones, but then, they all may have been replaced
>at some stage. That said, the first Rebour drawing of the Racers,
>from 1952, which was published in Le Cycle with a note that these
>wonderful new brakes, carefully designed for maximum mechanical
>advantage, etc., shows the four-dot pads. If they are not 100% the
>same, they look very close.
>
>I believe Jan is almost totally correct. The 4-dout pads seems to have
>remained the same throughout the production. Perhaps they made a rubber
>compound change but it did maintain the same shape. I do seem to
>however recall that the cyclo-cross/tandem version did come with a 5-
>dot pad. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

We have some of these in stock, never heard of any relation to cyclocross, though...these are generally considered "tandem" pads. See: http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/mafac.html

We used to have a card of Mafac refills that said "patins a ventouses." It is amusing to me that the French word for "brake shoe", "patin" is literally translated as "skate!"

Although I speak pretty fair French, "ventouses" was not in my vocabulary, so I had to look it up. It generally refers to the suckers on the tentacles of an octopus, or to what we in the U.S. call a "suction cup."

There have been inferior knockoffs of the "véritable" patins a ventouses. Unfortunately, the authentic ones haven't been made for quite a few years, and even the NOS ones have largely dried out, so they don't work nearly as well as fresh ones would. I believe this is generally true of "vintage" brake shoes.

For a "rider" I've found that the Kool Stop refills made for pre 2000 Campagnolo holders also fit Mafac holders. They're a bit longer, so they'll either hang out the back end of the holder, or you can trim them down with a utility knife. The Salmon colored shoes work better than anything Mafac ever made.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakeshoes.html#campagnolo

Sheldon "Always Liked Mafacs" Brown Newtonville, Massachusetts +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. | | At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear | | shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house. | | --Robert A. Heinlein | +----------------------------------------------------------------+ --
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