Classic & Vintage - My Suburban's F caliper broke an arm off today...

I couldn't tell just what the issue was - there's been so many lately (I'm using it for daily riding as the project comes together) - but the front brake had some serious play.

Perhaps the cable came loose - nope.

Perhaps the cable stretched - so i tighten it...

Perhaps the pads are crooked - so I re-align them...

hmmm - push test - brakes fine now....

Off I go - one block away I use the front brake and something shoots off the front of the bike onto the sidewalk... AND I notice that I have no stopping power...

What the...?

I stop - look for what ever must have shot off of my tire and what I see is metal with a kool stop pad attached laying near the curb?!?

I look at the front brake - sure enough - the caliper busted and the spring shot the piece to the curb.

Well I was en route to a meeting so I squeezed the rear very hard to see if it was going out too... It didn't. I pocketed the caliper arm and rode off-


Damn.

I've watched my Weinmann/DiaComp caliper arms flex, as I put the lock grip of... "I'm going to die if I don't stop this Schwinn EF bike at the bottom of this NH descent!" :eek: ...but I've never seen one brake (:p) (pun very much intended)!

Barth, you might need to study your Calvin and reform a little. ;) Maybe it's time to add Campagnolo calipers to that Suburban? But if that is going too much back to Rome for you, I probably have a Swiss caliper or two I could send you.

I'm just happy this caliper mishap was pre-ordained to occur in a non-emergency braking situation. :)

I almost hate free vs. determined dialectic as much as evolution vs. creation. Vanity of vanities!

The bike has been put through a lot in these last couple of years - and I am glad the arm snapped before a significant intersection... Though the way this holiday season is going it may not have been that bad to coast in to heavy traffic with a look of horror on my face.

I've got a good Schwinn connection here in Portland - he builds cycle-trucks out of old S. frames, restores rares, helped me tune up my Twinn Deluxe, sources Schwinn Approved parts etc..

My problem is that this is my main transport (besides bus) right now- While I have maybe 9 bikes - the (soon to be ex-) wife is leaving the marriage and all "our" bikes are in the basement, behind all my stuff she recently boxed...

I am not living at "home" and it makes for an odd situation...


Besides all that - you wouldn't really put campy on a '72 suburban would you? When things calm down, I'll probably just pull the front brake on the step-through suburban.

here they are again by the way-
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/filasafer/suburbs.jpg

Sounds like a bummer all around. Do your best to keep the chin up. Campy calipers on a Suburban would make you smile!