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Old 08-12-18 | 03:50 PM
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Charles Wahl
Disraeli Gears
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: NYC


This chart is from a Mafac poster, I think. You can find the full document here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131757...7628023244738/
I don't know where I downloaded them from; Robert Broderick's, Stronglight's or Mark Bulgier's website?
Mafac centerpulls did not, I'm fairly certain, use longer "legs" below the pivot, like Weinmann and Universal, to make a longer reach brake. Mafac provided different "étrier" (stirrup, or arch) heights. There were 3 for the Racer and Competition (the same part numbers for both types, I believe), petit, grand and réglable. The last will give you 7 mm greater reach than the grand, because it's even taller, and has a slotted mounting hole, allowing 5mm adjustment. I realize you plan to mount the brakes to braze-on pivots, so the arch doesn't matter. I guess I'm just pointing out that the arms are all the same for each model.

It seems that along with tire/fender clearance issues with shorter reach brakes, there's also the issue of how much room there is between the pads to remove/install the tire past them. If you choose to space the pivots a bit wider than they are on the arch, that might work up to a point, until the overlap of the arms above the pivots looks funny. As you can see from the "ET" column in the chart, the braze-on ("tasseaux") range is the recommended pivot spacing, and is quite a bit wider for the Raids than for the Competition and Racer.

FWIW, I built a bike for my spouse with Mafac Competitions (with arches), stock Mafac pads, Pasela 700Cx35 tires, and Planet Bike composite fenders. I have to deflate the tires to "pretty soft" to get them out; but it's not such a problem. It's here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nd-jubile.html
I'm pretty sure that the front is petit and the rear grand étrier -- not on braze-ons, obviously.

Last edited by Charles Wahl; 08-12-18 at 04:08 PM.
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