It has been graciously brought to my attention that Weinmann was a Swiss company. I humbly apologize to the great nation of Belgium for my ignorant slur. To think all these years I was cursing the wrong nation. BTW, perhaps I was installing/adjusting them improperly because I always had problems with centering them.
George Allen Lexington, Ky USA
BeGeorge Allen wrote:
> I agree with all of this. I'll also add that the Weinmann 999
> centerpulls standard on mid-1970's Raleigh Competitions and
> Internationals were the biggest piece of crap to ever come out of
> Belgium. I believe none other than Sheldon Brown referred to them as
> "evil". (God bless him, may he rest in peace) Hard to work on, hard to
> center and impossible to keep centered. It seemed every time the lever
> was squeezed the calipers were pulled out of center. I could reach the
> front caliper while riding to readjust but the rear was a bit
> difficult. The Universal centerpulls of the same era were much better.
> The Mavic Racers were better still. The only worse brakes than the
> 999's, IMHO, were the Weinmann sidepulls found on the Competition GS.
> And don't even get me started on the old Universal sidepulls although
> they provided an incredible amount of reach. The Campy brakes were a
> revelation to me. I didn't think brakes could work that well.
>
> George Allen
> Lexington, Ky
> USA
>
>
> Tom Dalton wrote:
>
>> Kurt Sperry wrote:
>> The eccentric cam QR, the flats in the center bolt to center with a
>> cone wrench and the tire guides were all useful and unique innovations
>> at the time Campy SPs were introduced if I remember correctly.
>> I'll add:
>> The above features were really of benefit more from a mechanic's
>> perspective than a braking performance perspective. Quick wheel
>> changes, easy to compensate for a slightly tweeked wheel, easy to
>> center the brakes... Many of the other Campy features were along the
>> same lines. I'm not really up on stuff from before the 70's, so
>> please forgive me if I'm crediting Campy for anything that came
>> earlier, but I will add this:
>> The cable clamp was pretty slick. I didn't mangle the wire like
>> some earlier designs, and if you did have a mangled wire it was still
>> usable because you didn't need to thread it through a tiny hole.
>> Don't forget the Rondella Denta that came out a little after the
>> intro of the brakes. That thing is pure genius... though probably
>> just a borrowed idea like everything else. At the lever, the
>> cable carrier was easy to orient using your fingers on the outside of
>> the lever... it was even knurled. This made for quick cable
>> hook-up. It also pivoted smoothly because of the large bearing
>> surface (though not like modern brakes with the slick plastic
>> inserts). Having a clamp that loaded the body and not the pivot
>> pin was a plus, though I suspect Campy was not the first to do this.
>> Winneman's clamp loaded the pivot, and I recall bending and breaking
>> a few pivots in overzealous fits of lever tightening... possibly
>> mechanic's error on my part, but should it really be an issue?
>> The Campy adjuster was slick too. Very fast to use because the
>> adjuster slid through the D-shaped opening, rather than being a
>> threaded shaft, so you only needed to spin the nut to the chosen
>> position. The bump on the nut held it in place. The ruber o-ring
>> was a nice touch. Newer versions of this setup are really nice,
>> because with the lighter brake springs you can easily ajust the brake
>> on the fly. The bumper on the short reach was a nice touch, even
>> if it often fell off. See the brand S 7700 caliper for a slick
>> solution to that problem.
>>
>> Was the open ended pad holder a new thing with the Record brake?
>> Probably over-reaching here, but whoever came up with that was really
>> thinking. Change rubber without setting up the pad orientation all
>> over again. Tom Dalton
>> Bethlehem PA USA
>>
>> ---------------------------------
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