Bicycle Mechanics - brake bridge drilling question

I recently picked up a 1986 Univega Gran Turismo that I'm loving.. the one problem is that I don't like the cantilever brakes it has. I'm used to road biking with double-pivot calipers. On several of my 80's road bikes I have had to drill the fork to allow for recessed bolts.

However, on this bike, the brake bridge does not even have the horizontal hole to begin with. The fork is drilled for nutted.

Is it safe for me to try to drill a horizontal hole through the brake bridge, starting the hole myself? Any tips? Thanks for your responses.

Craig

I recently picked up a 1986 Univega Gran Turismo that I'm loving.. the one problem is that I don't like the cantilever brakes it has. I'm used to road biking with double-pivot calipers. On several of my 80's road bikes I have had to drill the fork to allow for recessed bolts.

However, on this bike, the brake bridge does not even have the horizontal hole to begin with. The fork is drilled for nutted.

Is it safe for me to try to drill a horizontal hole through the brake bridge, starting the hole myself? Any tips? Thanks for your responses.

Check the reach first, make sure that you can find a long enough caliper.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/reach

However, it would really be foolish to switch from cantilevers to calipers. The original cantilevers may not have been so hot...many of the old DiaCompe cantilevers were not so good.

Modern cantilevers, such as Avid or Shimano, coupled with modern "aero" brake levers, lined cable housing and good brake pads (I recommend Kool Stop Mountain pads) will give braking as good or better than you're used to, if properly set up.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-adjustment

Sheldon "Cantilever Countervailers" Brown

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thanks Sheldon... the cantilevers I have are indeed diacomp. I'll order some of the Avid cantilevers from Harris. I didn't realize that I could use my caliper brake levers with cantilever brakes, good to know.