Originally Posted by
Bklyn
I've got a Fuji fixed-gear conversion circa 1983. It came with center-pull brakes. I'd like to switch to a front side-pull brake.
Here are my questions.
• Before I get too far into this, I'm not imagining the superiority of side-pull brakes to center-pulls, am I?
• The wheels are 27". Reach would be a problem only if I had switched to 700c wheels, right?
• Are there any issues I'm not even considering? Will the bolt on, say, a Shimano Ultegra side-pull be either too short or too fat to work with my fork?
Thanks for your help.
There's no reason you can't get excellent braking performance from centerpulls. Kool Stop salmon pads and aero brake levers are the key things that will improve the performance of your braking. I have an '83 Schwinn I ride nearly everyday that's equipped with its original centerpull brakes, and with Kool Stops and aero brake levers it has very, very good brakes.
Centerpulls are nutted brakes, meaning they don't use the recessed nut that modern brakes do, so you'll need to drill the rear of your fork out if you want to use a brake with a recessed nut. As far as the reach question, you just have to measure your required reach and see what you need. There are modern sidepull brakes that will work, but they will likely have to be of the "long reach" variety, because brake reach on older road bikes such as your Fuji require longer reach brakes than typical modern road calipers.