Originally Posted by seaneee
As promised. Here is a pic of the bike with questions. Hopefully this will make what I am trying to do more clear.
I would leave the c-pulls on as they are. Here's why.
First off, as others have noted, moving the calipers up to the "normal" location will require the use of old-style bottom pull side-pulls. In the realm of side pulls, these are generally of lower quality. I think the DiaCompe/Weinmann c-pull caliper is greatly under appreciated and it is a significant, major really, step above the quality of any of the older side pulls that you will find that will allow for the reverse pull that you'll need. Lower quality side pulls deflect a lot under braking and are very hard to get and keep centered.
The other thing I don't like about the reverse pull set up on mixtes is that the brake cable housing collects water and rusts up fast just like the older FD cable housings.
The only comprimise that your current system will force upon is the longer yolk cable that it requires to clear the seat tube. This will reduce the mechanical advantage a bit but even so, those c-pull brakes are going to out perform any side pull you put on there.
If you want to improve braking performance, my suggestion is to replace the pads with salmon colored KookStop MTB style pads. These work great with c-pull brakes.