antharrison

I am trying to fit Shimano SIS components to a frame I bought on eBay.

I have a problem - the front brake caliper is fouling the fixing for the rear gear shifter (which is located towards the bottom of the head tube - on my other bike this fixing is on the down tube)

I wonder if I have made a mistake - maybe my frame is Campag only?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

HillRider

If I understand your problem the braze-on cable housing anchor on the headtube for the rear derailleur cable is interferring with the front brake caliper. Sounds very odd and I don't think Campagnolo brakes will be any better. It does sounds like the anchor was installed in the wrong place.

Try installing a spacer washer on the brake mounting bolt between the front of the fork crown and the rear of the caliper.

Ray Dockrey

I saw a bike this way the other day somewhere on the net. The down tube stops where mounted on the head tube. Hopefully somebody who has this configuration will chime in and give you some help.

Retro Grouch 

It sounds to me like you are trying to fit a front brake that has a nutted mounting bolt on a frame that was designed for a recessed brake bolt.

HillRider

This configuration has become extremely common on mid to high level road bikes ever since STI/Ergo pretty much blew away downtube shifters and the need for downtube mounted shifter bosses. It keeps the cable housing from rubbing on the sides of the head tube and allows slightly shorter housing runs.

My new Litespeed has the cable stops mounted this way and there is absolutely no problems with the cable runs or brake interference. I still think the fitting was mounted wrong or we don't have a clear pcture of what is going on.

HillRider

Interesting point. The OP said the "caliper" is interferring with the cable housing stop but maybe it is the rear of a nutted brake bolt. I further expect the fork is intended for a recessed nut so the brake mounting wouldn't be properly secure if it's a nutted version.