Installing TekTro brakes on my 83 Shwinn
 

Hey guys, I'm a newbie to the bike world... but I got an 83 schwinn supersport and was putting a luggage rack on it. Broke the rear brake doing that. Bought a Tekro Long Reach to put on it, but the stud isn't long enough to fit through the mount on the bike. Is there something I'm doing wrong? or am I supposed to drill it out? Because I would much rather not do that.

Thanks doodz

Return that rear tektro. Buy the same long-reach tektro brake, but the front wheel version. Save the hardware from the broken old rear brake. Reverse the brake pads. Install the new "front" brake on the back brake bridge, using the nut&washer from the old brake.

Rejoice.
-rob

(The reason it didn't work is b/c your bike is made for standard, old-fashioned brake-nuts. Modern frames use brakes with recessed nuts, and the vast majority of new caliper brakes or designed for modern frames. Thankfully, the front brake uses a longer bolt, so you can run it on an old-fashioned rear using the standard hardware )

Wow, Rob! That makes sense. The funny thing is, this bike shop knew I was ordering it for an old bike... They originally ordered the front version. I figured it was a mistake because nobody ever told me about this!! So I had it swapped out. I've had to wait for a week each time they ordered, too. I'm going to have a hard time A)returning this one after the spring popped out and I scratched it up a bit getting it back in place, and B) getting the old nut out of my nasty garbage can.

Thank you so much for the quick response. I noticed that the brake I have was used for a recessed style.

no problem; welcome to the site! (And good luck with the return)

Can you drill the hole on one side of the brake bridge in the rear so that you can put a recessed nut into it?

I know that I could. But there is a big part of me that would just die inside if I altered the original frame. This bike is as original as it gets... And if I were to do that, there'd be no turning back. You know, though, if it made more sense for me to do it as far as functionality of the rear break goes, I would do it. But I don't think functionality is really a player, here. I am guessing by the fluidity of Rob's response that it's a tried and true method.

While I do understand the idea of bringing older bikes to modernity via modification, and I also don't feel 100% legit putting the front brake on the back, I truly don't know if I could ever forgive myself for altering the original frame.

Thoughts and comments?

Not as easy to do as it sounds. The side that you have to drill is the side adjacent to the seat tube where you can't get a drill. I've done it by clamping a drillbit in a vicegrip and working it by hand.

I think it'd be lame to drill out the frame, and potentially dangerous if something went wrong. I also think that if someone did the front recessed brake swap onto your bike for you, you'd never know it was intended for the front. The only difference between front and rear calipers is the length of the bolt, and the orientation of the pads if the brake takes directional pads. On the rear, the legitimacy is indeed 100%. (My trick for running the rear recessed brake on a standard front fork is only maybe 70% legit.)

Ahhh, good point.

I did it to a modern front fork recently but I wasn't sure about the rear bridge.

To follow up for you guys, I got the front brake and put it on there using Rob's original instructions. Worked absolutely WONDERFUL. Thanks again, Rob. And thanks for all you guys' input. I'm glad I didn't decide to alter the frame. Now I just want to put the same brake on the front for looks!

I'm glad it worked out for ya, Hex. The front brake technique I've used is not so awesome as the rear brake trick; Tektro has released some of their l/r brakes in standard nut versions, so maybe look for that one? I'd probably keep the original front brake on so long as it works, for simplicity's sake...

You'll need to have the back of the fork drilled to get the same brake up front. I did it to my 86' world sport and the stopping power went from almost none to being able to endo my 225lbs. I did put modern brake levers on though, which helped a great deal too, though not as much as the dual pivot calipers.

if you're not running fenders, you can macgyver the rear brake to fit up front quite easily. It's just very hard (but not impossible) to mount fenders this way. I cannot recommend this method without warnings about "this isn't really how you're supposed to do it, but....

in all fairness, it isn't exactly responsible to drill out your fork, if you're not experienced with such procedures...

How much experience does it take to enlarge the hole in the back of the fork? It seems like something any fool could do.

i'd say you'd need to center the hole, make sure the steel is solid enough to drill reliably, and be certain that there's enough material to accomodate the new-seze hole. No big deal, but plenty of ppl have been hurt thru diy fork mods... i'm not saying "don't do it", but it'd be irresponsible if we didn't say "be careful"