Bicycle Mechanics - bmx sidepulls on road bike

Hi,

I need to replace the brakes on my beater roadie.. but being that it is a beater i don't feel like spending a bundle on expensive road bike brakes. BMX sidepulls are pretty low budget, and seem like they would be alot sturdier. Is there any reason why i couldn't use them on a road bike?

All i need then is a pair of good low cost road levers!

You can get a cheap pair of Road brakes for around $35.. how much cheaper are BMX? Only problem I could see is the bolt length and the reach of the brakes might be different. And they are designed for wider rims, not sure if that would cause any problems.

I know chuckbikes has the Tekro brakes for $35.. Icyclesusa has the Sora for $39 and dia compe brake levers for $22.

Check oujt some Shimano 105 long drop dual pivot calipers. They are not that expensive and are a whole lot better than cheap crappy sidepulls. Mine have room for 32mm rubber + fenders.
There is no need for a "beater bike" to be a bad one.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice! The reason i was so interested in Bmx sidepulls is because they are easily available under 15 bucks, and the quality is pretty good; they certainly are not going to break easily. That is why i was hoping to get a pair rather than low budget road brakes for twice the price (the range of prices for bike components bmx vs road or xc is an interesting, however different discussion that might tease out some sociology and economics).

I was thinking that if i were to get the bmx sidepulls, i could just space the pads to accomodate for the rim size. Has anyone tried this? Due to my affinity for endos on my beater roadie at stoplights, i have a bad habit of breaking cable-ends; am i wrong in thinking that bmx cables will be a bit tougher?

As to beater bikes being bad, my beater bike is great, but i want it to be minimal investment because its a bike i will leave locked up outside all the time, giving it a high probability of being stolen.

cheers,
-Nick

Are you referring to those big calipers? Why would you want to put something that ugly on a road bike?
I'm assuming that the reach would be too long, anyway.

check out the Tektro calipers at http://www.danscomp.com.. they are cheap and they look (a scientific judgment, i assure you =P ) like they could be adapted to 700c rims (box).

i guess its the reach i am concerned about

Other factor I could think of thatmight be a problem, how much pull do BMX brakes take? Could be the same, or more is required. You can ask your LBS, if they don't know see what their return policy is, if does not work you can return them.

you could just get like, some old crusty single pivot road brakes from a shop. i'm sure they'll practically GIVE them to you if they have them.