zukahn1 

I have couple of bikes with long 90-100m brakes one with Mafac Racers and one with classic Diacompe. I'm considering changing the one with Mafacs to Dia-compes for simplicity and depenablility. I was wondering what people here think which is better brake the Mafac ot the Dia-compe?

big chainring 

In my opinion DiaCompe and Weinmann centerpulls are about as good as it gets for vintage brakes. In my youth Mafac brakes were thought of as kind of odd and not so great. Weinmanns came on everything from Raleigh Grand Prixs to Schwinn Paramounts. I find its funny that Mafacs are the "in" brake for vintage bikes these days. They do have a funky old look to them, but Weinmann/DiaCompes just seem more positive and stronger when in use.

French bikes - Mafacs
English bikes - Weinmanns
Italian - Universals

Road Fan

90 to 100 is pretty long for any brake. I think Mafac Racers are in the 70 through 75 range.

I've just set up a Mafac on the front of my Trek. It was squishy as of old with the original black pads. I put on some salmon Koolstops and adjusted the toe and other factors so the shoes hit the rim squarely, and it's a much stiffer and more positive brake. I also used pretty stiff inner and outer cables, NOS Modolos, and a rather stout cast aluminum front cable hanger from V-O. The shoes were the last major source of flex or squishiness.

One thing that is better on Mafacs is the more flexible shoe adjustment system. Pad position, reach, tilt, and angle of attack can all be adjusted. Another is that the arms are fully floating. Weinmanns and Diacompes had a peg and slot that linked the left and right arms together. I like free floating better.

anixi

One more to put in the mix is Universal. My 66's work very well.

randyjawa 

Mafac center pull brakes are the best center pulls I am aware of. They are a bit of a pain to install and adjust but their stopping power is second to none, in my opinion. And,their aesthetics is very vintage, if you ask me. I would go with the Mafacs every time!

hagen2456

Agreed. I have tried all three brands, and the MAFACs are by far my favourites.
It's true that they are a bit difficult to adjust 100%.

Edit: The Universal are, in my experience, about as good as Weinmann and DiaCompe.

peazweag

Its pretty much personal preference,some will say mafac other dia-compe tamato,tomoto.both are good imo.

Grand Bois

I prefer the MAFACs, and I much prefer the Competitions over the Racers because of the brass bushings.

peter_d

One nice thing about Mafacs is you can use the scrap end of a new brake cable to replace the straddle cable when necessary.

anixi

Thanks for the tip. I needed to do just that on an Bridgestone MB-6 restore.

zukahn1 

Good Point I never thought of this I did replace the stadle cables on the MAFAC's this way which I couldn't do with other brakes.

T-Mar

The adjustability of the MAFACs is both blessing and bane. In the hands of a knowldegeable mechanic they can be optimzed (or customized). This, in conjunction with the large pad area, produced powerful braking for the era. However, in the hands of a novice, getting something like the straddle cable length wrong can have the opposite effect. The extra complexity also contributes towards a tendency to not hold their adjustments. For a less skilled mechanic, Dia-Compe can be a better choice, especially with aftermarket, oversize pads, which noticeably increase the braking effectiveness.

jebensch

What about those eye-candy CLB centerpulls? Any experience with those?

I like the adjustability of the Mafacs. Can't stand setting up that straddle though. Many swear words. Many.

Captain Blight

I've actually found it easiest to bring MAFACs into final adjustment by using the straddle wire. Get everything really close and then finalize it by shortening the wire up.

ColonelJLloyd 

+1 Well put.