I'm pretty sure there were more models of Universal brakes than are commo nly identified. For years I thought that the brakes I had were some variant of Model 61 centerpulls that only had "Universal" (no "Model 61") stamped on them until someone pointed out that the washers are red rather than blue and there is a slight difference in the way the return springs mount on th e back of the calipers so it seems reasonable that there could be a model l ike you are describing. Maybe somebody here knows for sure what the lineup was and could provide a timeline.
Regards, Derrick Bourgeois Color ado Springs, CO, USA
From: Otis <otis@otisrecords.com> Subject: [CR] Universal sidepull question To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: S unday, 25 January, 2009, 12:08 AM
All of the Universal calipers I've w orked on have always had blue paint fills on the caliper arm lettering, a nd blue lettering on the outer thrust washer on the pivot bolt.
I st arted cleaning up the calipers from my 1960 Legnano today and the lette r ing is filled with red paint. Also both calipers had a red anodized thrus t wash er. The washer had no lettering left, the red only showed on the backside. When I first pulled them apart I figured somebody swapped in some Weinmann's at some point. But then I saw the red fills on the calip er, so.....
Anyway, I'd like to know if this is original for the perio d? It does not seem like the type of bike that somebody would have "detai led" with different color paint on something like that. And I pretty sure the brakes are original to the bike.
I had my bottle of Testor's blue out all ready for the rebuild, but if they were red I'll leave as-i s. Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks much, Jon Williams (aka O
tis)
Grants Pass OR USA