Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,045
Likes: 15
From: Lancaster County, PA
Bikes: '39 Hobbs, '58 Marastoni, '73 Italian custom, '75 Wizard, '76 Wilier, '78 Tom Kellogg, '79 Colnago Super, '79 Sachs, '81 Masi Prestige, '82 Cuevas, '83 Picchio Special, '84 Murray-Serotta, '85 Trek 170, '89 Bianchi, '90 Bill Holland, '94 Grandis
As cyclotoine posts, Mafac introduced their centerpull brake at a time everyone else had sidepulls. The Mafacs were very popular - so much so, that everyone else (which at the time was primarily Universal and GB) scrambled to catch up, leading to the Universal 61 and GB Coureur, and centerpulls dominated the 60's. You can pretty much document the swing back to sidepulls, which was fairly sudden in the pro ranks, by looking at pictures of Eddy Merckx in 1968. At the Tour of Flanders, his bike had Universal sidepulls. At the Giro, his bike had sidepulls. By 1969 at the latest, virtually everyone using Campagnolo components had the new sidepulls, and again, other manufacturers scrambled to catch up. The exception was of course the teams riding French components, primarily Peugeot, which retained the Mafac sidepulls (often with braze-on mountings).