Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
The Gran Compe are based on the old Weinmann centerpull pattern, not MAFAC. The Weinmann/DiaCompe/GranCompe calipers are stiffer to begin with compared to MAFAC. It would indeed be trick to have them mounted on braze on studs. Herse did that. The difference in feel I suspect would likely be less dramatic than with MAFAC, but they would look cooler for sure.
In lieu of having your frame/fork brazed, one can dramatically improve these caliper's actuation stiffness by adding longer bolts and a "booster" arch.
Further, by tethering the arms at the pad mounting bolt, bending forces being fed into the pivots are almost entirely eliminated, leading to a much freer movement with resultant modulation improvement (same logic as top-line Campagnolo and Dura-Ace calipers having ball-bearing pivots).
A super-short straddle wire (pillaged from a later canti straddle assembly, one leg of it) can increase leverage, exploiting the gain in stiffness, but requires complete disassembly to install. These brakes are more than stout now, actuated by M730 SLR Servowave(?) levers.
I have to say that it was fun to test these mods, back when I was doing XC races using these calipers. Earlier on, it was not uncommon to have the lever come to the grip on steep, wet descents!
