Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
I love that Peugeot orange and agree with Tom that Mafac centre pulls were one of the best vintage brakes as their set up was easier than any other, leverage could be adjusted (unique), and they delivered good braking performance.
The racers on my UO8 have Kool Stop pads installed up front and Shimano pads in the back and the stopping power is more than acceptable... this is a pretty fast bike and spins up really fast and I like to be able to stop just as quickly and with a fixed drive it is like having three brakes on the bike.
Between the straddle length and the unique brake shoe post position, you can get close to having the straddle contact the arm at 90 degrees. That's one of the criteria for maxing out leverage.