Under chain stay U brakes

[mattsccm]

I seem to remember that they were as good as snything on dry stoney stuff. The second any crap got into ghe pivots they seized and lets not talk about mud and leaves

[scottg]

The brakes are good, the mount location is the problem.
There some Japanese touring bikes have ubrakes, but mounted in
the regular locations, they work nicely out of the muck.
Sort of like brazed on MAFACS without the squeal.

[cycle tramp]

Thanks for posting the photos. This might sound a bit strange, but have you tried mounting the brake pads so that the longer (wider) spacers are between the brake block and the arm of the u brake and the shorter spacers are between the u brake arm and the brake bolt nut?
At the moment it looks like the u brake is already beyond the position that it should be in when the brake is already half way applied. Swapping the spacers over should help rectify this.

[Sid Aluminium]

I agree with those who 'diss' the U brake located under the bottom stay - but the trouble is I don't see a way of replacing it with, say, a cantilever without paying for posts to be brazed elsewhere - probably equalling the value of the bike.

Relace the rear rim on a Sturmey X-RDC. Probably also equalling the value of the bike.

Does the frame have a seatstay bridge? Could you fit a dual pivot side pull like a Tektro 810C?

[Brucey]

Thanks for posting the photos. This might sound a bit strange, but have you tried mounting the brake pads so that the longer (wider) spacers are between the brake block and the arm of the u brake and the shorter spacers are between the u brake arm and the brake bolt nut?
At the moment it looks like the u brake is already beyond the position that it should be in when the brake is already half way applied. Swapping the spacers over should help rectify this.

yep. This should improve the straddle cable too.

I can think of lots of improvements to the mudguard also, eg having it poking through the brake instead. As it is it is practically funnelling crud onto the brake....?

cheers