Replacement for Weinmann 610 Centre pull brakes

[cooper_coleraine]

I find the Weinmann brakes, wirh Weinmann levers on drop bars on my 1984 Raleigh Classic stiff to operate and not 100% efficient. I am thinking of replacing the brakes from the Dia-Compe range. How do I measure the 'drop' ? Will the Weinmann Brake levers work with Dia-Compe brakes. I have hangers front and rear but no fork bosses.
Thanks

[Freddie]

You can measure drop from the centre of the hex bolt to centre of pads with a ruler or tape measure. Long drop dual pivot brakes are another, potentially more powerful option, though I don't know how well they'd work with non-aero levers, you might need to change those too.

[Brucey]

if your brakes are 'stiff to operate' then -regardless of type- they probably need some maintenance.

The #1 thing is the cables. Modern cables, suitably lubricated, will transmit more effort to the brake calipers. If you have not changed the cables for modern ones (with a liner in the housing and polished inners) which are nicely lubricated, then I'd suggest that you do that before fitting new brakes.

On Weinmann Centre-pulls the main pivots have polymer bushings and these are usually pretty smooth. However a smear of grease on these won't hurt. A drop of oil on both ends of the return springs and where the straddle cable mounts will help too. In the lever, depending on the model, there is usually a swivel that benefits from a drop of oil also.

Finally if you fit better brake blocks this will help too. Worn brake blocks cause the MA of the caliper to be fundamentally changed for the worse. If you fit 'V' type cartridge blocks spaced so that the caliper moves relatively little (from the fully open position), this will usually make the best of the brake.

I still use weinmann brakes with weinmann levers on my touring bike; I think if I were carrying a much heavier load, there would perhaps be a case for more powerful brakes, but in the grand scheme of things I'd suggest that these brakes are -when well maintained- actually pretty good brakes.

cheers

[cooper_coleraine]

Thanks Freddie and thanks Brucie. I will take your maintenance advice . Thanks too Brucie for your advice recently on 4 hole chain rings.
Cheers

[9494arnold]

I agree, new cables. Weinman Centrepull brakes are very good brakes.

[bigjim]

I've got Weinman Centrepull brakes on one of my tourers. I reckon they are pretty powerful.

[cooper_coleraine]

Following advice given to me on the Forum I have replaced the cables and this has given effective braking and the stiffness is much diminished. Many thanks.
Cheers

[iviehoff]

I use old bikes as commuters, and from time to time these life expire, too much worn out to continue maintaining. So I scavenge some useful parts from it to set up the next second-hand bike I will buy. Every time I transfer the Weinmann centrepulls I have onto the next bike, because they are so good. I originally got them from a bike I bought in about 1990, which was already old when I bought it. They are just such good brakes.

Unfortunately last time I had to maintain them by sorting out the cables, I put on new cable outers, well I used secondhand recovered cable outers. I have done this several times before. But this time I got something wrong and there is too much friction in the rear brake cable, and it can't return the brake lever. Clearly I got something wrong. So there's a message there, you do have to get these things right. I'm going to have a go at fixing it again shortly.

The only annoying factor with this kind of brake is that you do have to adjust them by getting the hanger in just the right place on the cable, and then, if the wheel is in place, it is difficult to put the hanger back onto the stirrup. But you can't know if you got it right unless the wheel is in place. So adjusting it right is a tedious and fiddly job. V-brakes are such an improvement in this respect.

[johnggold]

I never really understand why Weinmann brakes are so maligned. I buy every set or parts I can find for cycle restoration.

They do benefit from a good clean, Polish up well and if properly adjusted are really effective brakes. The problem is that they are often not set up correctly, resulting in poor performance.

[pkbicycles]

A lot of braking force is lost in bending the hangers especially the front one .I have drilled a small diameter hole for the inner cable through the top center of the alloy quill stem and used this as a stop for the outer cable, a much stiffer setup


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[Brucey]

....The only annoying factor with this kind of brake is that you do have to adjust them by getting the hanger in just the right place on the cable, and then, if the wheel is in place, it is difficult to put the hanger back onto the stirrup. But you can't know if you got it right unless the wheel is in place. So adjusting it right is a tedious and fiddly job...

It is a very good idea to run these brakes with a QR (eg in the lever). This allows you to unhook the yoke from the straddle even if the brakes are well-adjusted.

Regarding adjustment of the pinch bolt; it is usually possible to gauge if you there or thereabouts by squeezing the caliper onto the rim and seeing how the yoke looks vs the straddle.

When fitting a new inner cable (and it is not yet trimmed to length) you can use a fourth hand tool if you want. But once the cable is trimmed to length, this usually isn't so easy.

I think that Weinmann centre-pulls are pretty good brakes; these days folk get excited about Mafac and Gran Compe Centre pulls, but the Weinmann ones work at least as well in many cases.

cheers

[pete75]

I think that Weinmann centre-pulls are pretty good brakes; these days folk get excited about Mafac and Gran Compe Centre pulls, but the Weinmann ones work at least as well in many cases.

cheers

I agree there's not much difference between Weinmann and Mafac in use but It's stuff like this that gives Mafac a certain mystique. Meanwhile we had Weinmann on the Raleigh we got for passing the 11 plus.

[robgul]

If any Weinmann centre pull enthusiasts are looking for brand new straddle wires - PM me - I have a bag that I'm taking to sell at a cycle jumble . . .

Rob

[rjb]

anyone tried this alternative cable routing. I have seen it on some trikes whereby the caliper was mounted on the back of the fork as a 2nd brake on the front wheel.

modified6101.jpg (14.41 KiB) Viewed 3080 times

https://veloapocalypse.wordpress.com/ar ... e-routing/

[Brucey]

anyone tried this alternative cable routing....

IIRC this setup (as pictured) gives a lower caliper MA than you might get normally.

However if the brake blocks are worn and/or the rim is narrow, the cable starts to be raised further above the plane of the pivot bolts and this increases the caliper MA. If you can get the distance of from the cable plane to the pivot plane to be the same as the distance from the pivot plane to the brake blocks, the caliper MA would be 1:1, i.e. about the same as a half-decent (racing) side-pull brake from back in the day.

cheers