Originally Posted by Freud
Another question for you guys though. I bought some new brakes off of Ebay and the bolts to mount the breaks dont make it through the frame in order to attach the nut on the other side. Would it be okay to just pick up some different bolts from the hardware store and mount them with those?
Thank
No, you can't typically replace the pivot bolts with hardware store items as they are specifically made to allow the caliper arms to pivot smoothly on them.
Apparently your bike was made for nutted brakes where the pivot bolts are long enough to go completely through the fork crown and rear brake bridge and are retained with external nuts. The brakes you got on E-bay are a newer design intended to be fastened with a recessed long nut that sticks through the rear of the fork crown and front of the brake bridge so it reaches the shorter pivot bolts.
I believe you have these choices.
1) Sell the new brakes and buy the correct type for your bike.
2) Buy longer pivot bolts from the brake manufacturer and change them. This will be expensive.
3) Drill out the rear face (only) of the fork crown and the front side (only) of the rear brake bridge with a 5/16" or 8 mm drill bit and buy the needed recessed long nuts. Any bike shop should have them and they are cheap.
4) Take the bike to a bike shop and discuss having #2 or #3 done by them.