Campy Delta Brakes
 

Is it just me or are Campaganolo Delta brakes one of the biggest pains in the a**** to set up? There is so little room below the nut to cut the cable . If you didn't measure correctly or if the cable slips you are toast. Is it just me? What am I missing?

But, damn, they are beautiful.

Guy

That is simply one of the costs of being cool! Once you have done it a few dozen times, you will see that it is not that much of a hassle.

not to mention the need for that super-rad size 3.5mm allen key!

yes, yes, the arguments against these brakes are many and all justified. but still, I love mine, and they're just the lowly Croce D'Aune version.

I have a pair my nephew gave to me. I need to take some pictures and have our C&V experts help me ID them. Honestly, I wonder what to do with them? I'm always shocked that they usually sell for over $200 on ebay. But what do I know?

The way I set mine up was to clamp the cable down & then bend it around & up into the mechanism. If you route it carefully, it won't affect the performance of the brake, and will allow you to adjust it later. I'll try to get a pic for you tonight.

Might I ask what your parts needs are presently, humble master of the bicycling gods? :D

1R binder bolt? NOS Super Record brake lever? NR brake calipers?

-Kurt

There are a number of types, the earlier designs fetching more than the later. An there are Chorus ones too.

I believe that you're referring to Croce d'Aune not Chorus, if i'm not mistaken.

When I installed mine I got everything set, marked the cable with a sharpie, removed the cable, cut it, soldered the end and reinstalled, it was a little fiddly but i like to work on things so it was fun.

Obligatory part pr0n:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/...25a2a8d84a.jpg

Something told me you might be drooling around here after I posted this! :roflmao2:

I promised my nephew I wouldn't do anything until I consulted with him. I'm not certain how he came by them, but I don't believe he has much if anything in them. Would they look O.K. on an '83 Paramount? :innocent:

"Would they look O.K. on an '83 Paramount?" QUOTE.


They look so good I am thinking of puting mine on my

GMC SONOMA!


Regards,
J T

Well, it so happens I've considered poking my nose into the possibility of acquiring Deltas on more then one occasion...

...come to think of it, I do not know exactly what I'd put them on.

I dare say they'd be prime fodder for the '83 - it would be foolish to pass them up. Also gives you an excuse to put a C-Record RD on it.

-Kurt

How good are the Delta-style brakes at stopping when compared to their contemporary Chorus (monoplanar) and Athena single pivot designs? I am running the Athena's on a bike and they stop pretty well.

Attachment 83498

These are Croce d'Aune components after parts treating at my shop and going to the anodization bath for a nice frosty satin black treatment. The parts were really scunned, but some elbow grease got them into shape. The aluminum was glass bead (120 mesh @ 40 PSI) blasted.

I am going to do the crankset too, but because they are a different alloy, I have to run them seperate.

Croce d'Aune, pseudo Century finish?

What do you use to reassemble the derailer pins?

-Kurt

Derailleur pins are splined with an undercut central portion (for plate movement) and are retained via longitudal splines. I remove them with a small precision arbor press, as the "folded" shoulder is just on one end. When they get re-inserted, you move the splines between the original displacement and press them back in.

As for the dual "riveted/folded" pins (front derailleur cage pins etc.) I just leave them be, or machine custom little guys with a single sided circlip.

I have to machine some Delta parts like the top crown that unitizes the backplate and the front cover as this set was missing one. I will also machine a custom barrel adjustor.

With the original pads, they kinda suck. I sand my pads every few weeks to keep them fresh. I should just invest in decent pads for them. From what I've been told, Campy's theory on brakes was that they are not for stopping, they're for speed control.

Here's how I routed mine (sorry for the crappy phone pic):

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...ltarouting.jpg

When the front cover is on, the lower curve of the cable is inside the body & doesn't cause any problems.

I'm about to change the cables & housing, and will try to set it up better & get a pic of it then.

I'd like to second the post of quickdraw. The best way to set these up is to put them together coverless mark the desired cable length, cut the cable, solder the end. Some people add a secondary cable end stop (from a canti saddle bridge cable) under the cable bind point as anadded insurance measure. Probably only to consider for the front caliper.

there's a whole forum dedicated to Delta's on Campy Only.
There are some very good setup tips as well as other general info on
Campy Deltas.

http://campyonly.com/phpBB2/viewforu...3ca646d10280b9

Marty

When I snagged the Bottecchia, the bike was in working order, although pretty scunned and my dive buddy and I took it for a test spin. This was my first experience with Delta brakes.

My buddy's reaction- "Man, this thing has awesome brakes!" He isn't a cyclist, and had no idea that these brakes were any different from the norm. I had to point out that the parts were Campagnolo and Italian made.

The pads were a mixture of Promax curved cantilever pads, and what appear to be standard Shimano road pads. It really felt good in the braking department.

I have Delta's on my de Reus, and when set up correctly the stopping power is very good
(almost too good). When I first set them up (incorrectly I might add) stopping was dicey at best.
E.B my dive buddies never find anything as good as that, maybe a snorkel or some old fishing line.

Marty

Delta brakes when set up properly, using fresh brake pads and sufficiently wide rims work as well as any other period brakes. If you use too narrow a rim, it becomes nigh impossible to set them up properly. The original pads also seem to harden more and faster than other brands, which often gives people the impression that they don't work well. I have them on a few bikes and they all work well.

The Weinmann 999 problem, eh?

-Kurt

Yes, would not buy either one though. And the crankset was useless too, bearings too small, and if the front over shifted, there was no recovery, unlike most other cranks where the land adjacent to the spindle would catch the chain. Only good thing was the 39 tooth inner ring capability.

C Record, where STYLING overwhelmed all else. And triggered Campagnolo's darkest hours.

well ill pop my mine in here as well
i love them . very nice .

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/...58dc5658_b.jpg

only thing i am worried about is this " cable slipping " i have been hearing about .is there one person here who has had the cable slip and thus the brake not functioning ?

it would be nice to have a flat head stopper at the bottom of the cable to prevent it from slipping back thru .
i think that will be this weekends project , after the saturday morning ride .
Cheers
T

I've had an interesting epiphany following and posting in this thread. I've been reading it with interest since I received a set of Deltas this summer and have towyed with the idea of using them. Here's my reaction:

Deltas are very interesting and pleasing to look at by themselves, unmounted, nicely photographed and well lighted. But when they are installed, especially the front caliper, it looks out of place. My thoughts are it's a UFO hovering in front of the rider ready to snatch its next abduction. Does anyone else have this reaction? Or am I just allowing some suppressed memory rise to my current level of consciousness? Or am I becoming a pre-winter grouch?

IMO these look better:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...FrtCaliper.jpg