Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,541
Bikes: Bianchi Volpe, ANT 3-speed roadster, New Albion Privateer singlespeed, Raleigh One Way singlespeed, Raleigh Professional "retro roadie" rebuild, 198? Fuji(?) franken-5-speed, 1937 Raleigh Tourist, 1952 Raleigh Sports, 1966 Raleigh Sports step-through
Mentioned: 21 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 248 Post(s)
It occurred to me that a friend has a bike equipped with 700C A23s, so he brought his bike over and we tried his wheel on my bike. The brake pads went from the bottom of the slot to the top, and definitely improved the brake response - from needing to really squeeze to stop quickly, to being able to endo the bike. Another friend suggested that the difference in rim diameter could also make a difference, in terms of where the braking force is being applied relative to the center.
Maybe I'll go back to 700C...it looks like it might actually be possible to squeeze a 32mm tire onto the rear, possibly requiring dimpling the chainstays which I was planning to do for the 650Bs anyway, since clearance is so tight. I'll test that sometime this week, maybe tomorrow, to see if it's reasonable.