Fitting new brakes - advice

There are a couple of issues to consider:

Firstly, will current claipers match the levers you have (ie: is the amount of cable pulled, when you pull the lever, enough to match the requirements of the current brake designs)?

Secondly, will the calipers have sufficient pad height adjustment for the mountings and wheel size which could be 700c or 27"? I'm guessing that a Peugeot will be 700c which should be fine. But I could easily be wrong.

And lastly, you will need to be able to open the caliper to remove the wheel. If you can release the brake at the lever then you have a wider choice. If not, then a Shimano caliper would be fine since they all have a release lever.

PS: If it's been "many years" since its last ride then its highly unlikely that changing the calipers will be the only thing needed. Consider a thourough clean and degrease of the whole drive train at least. Get the advice of someone who can look at the bike.

Thanks - questions that I can't really answer. I'm pretty sure they are 700c wheels and I can obviously check this but it sounds like I need to spend some money and get some who knows what they're doing to get it sorted!

Thanks again.

glasgow said:

.. I have an old racing bike .. the back brake (Caliper) broke and I was told that, as the part was so old, I would not be able to replace the broken component.

Getting an exact match, might be a challenge, but as far as I know the caliper brake standard has remained very stable for years.
Brakes can have different reach, there are single-pivot, double-pivot and whatnot - but as long as you get the reach right you should be good.
I've never heard of different caliper brakes requiring different amounts of pull.
A quick-release somewhere in the assembly for easier wheel removal is a good point, although strictly not required.

OK thanks. I have another cheapo (but much more recent) bike and I seem to remember looking at its brake fittings (also caliper) and deciding that they couldn't be easily transferred to my old bike because of how they were physically secured to the bike. I need to take another look.

glasgow said:

OK thanks. I have another cheapo (but much more recent) bike and I seem to remember looking at its brake fittings (also caliper) and deciding that they couldn't be easily transferred to my old bike because of how they were physically secured to the bike. I need to take another look.

FWIW. My mid-80s Peugeot originally had brake calipers which did NOT have recessed nuts ...

About 10 years ago, I finally decided to replace the Weinmann calipers with a different set ... so, I enlarged the NUT-side of the brake bridge to accept a recessed nut.

I enlarged the hole on the nut-side of the original fork, too, but then replaced the fork with a LOOK fork (see attachment) ... the only original parts on MY Peugeot when I was done were the two adjusters on the rear dropouts.

The brake calipers in the picture are an unmatched pair (i.e., a longer reach caliper in the rear ... the reach to my rear wheel was ~50mm) of 80s vintage SunTour Superbe calipers which used recessed nuts.

For continuity, I respaced the rear triangle to 130mm.

Thanks for that alfeng. It sounds like you know what you're doing - I'm a bit less confident! I think I'll need to get someone to take a look.

glasgow said:

Thanks for that alfeng. It sounds like you know what you're doing - I'm a bit less confident! I think I'll need to get someone to take a look.

For the moment, I'm going to presume that you would actually like to use a brake caliper which has a recessed brake nut ...

YOU can do this by either using an electric drill + the appropriate sized drill bit (it must be ~5/16", or ~8mm) OR modify a stubby screwdriver by filing the sides of the 'chisel' blade so that they are 'clean'/("crisp"?) enough to cut as you ream out the back side of the brake bridge (this would be a slow & very tedious process)[which is the forward facing side for the rear brake bridge] until it is large enough to receive the recessed nut.

If you use an electric drill (a variable speed drill is probably easier to use), then wrap a piece of masking tape about an 3/16" behind the tip which will then act as a visual stop.

Thank you. Well, if I'm feeling brave....!