Jan Heine wrote: I have a Universal rear brake, the sidepull with the extra arm. When I mount it on the bike, the pads interfere with the seat stays. Checking images of Universal-braked bikes, it appears that the arms are bent slightly to provide clearance. Before I start bending - is this correct? <snip> ---------------------------- Do as you wish, but in my experience bending Universal caliper arms (or twisting to get proper toe-in) is a sure-fire way to get a much shorter arm, with no brake mounting flat. Unlike most others, the ones I know (particularly the 61s) just snap when bent. Not nice. I have no way to know if earlier models were a different alloy -- and I'm not going to test one!
If there is interference with the seat stays, in my experience it is usually the result of a larger brake bridge hole than the brake bolt, so the assembly rotates down. The right way to deal with this would be to insert a sleeve, but that requires machining.
harvey sachs
mcLean VA