fender1

So I saw these on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Zeus200...a5oAAOSwDuJWvw

I was wondering if anyone here had ever used them? Are these copies of Universal Centerpulls or Dia Compe GC 450?

Aubergine 

They look more like Mafac brakes to me. I wish the eBay photos had shown the arm thickness.

Salamandrine 

No, they are their own thing. Somewhat similar to GC450. Nicer than Universals. They were intended to compete with campy NR. I've worked on and test ridden bikes with those brakes, so in a sense I've used them, but never owned them myself.

gugie 

They'd be nice on an all-Zeus bike.

But $230? Yikes!

Narhay

Weren't there a bunch of these that were selling NOS for like $50 a couple years ago?

randyjawa 

Too much money, in my opinion. Have I used Zeus brakes? Yes, but not those exact ones. The ones I used were fitted to a Zeus I owned long ago, and the brakes were on par with most others from that era...

Salamandrine 

$230 is too much I agree. Then again people are asking $100 for old TA water bottles these days so who knows... They were a top end component. Kind of unique that they were still offering centerpull racing brakes as late as the early 80s, since everyone else had moved on to sidepulls by this time.

I have some vague recollection that maybe there was a titanium version of these brakes, but I don't think these are them.

FYI there was a titanium version of the Zeus 2000 group. It was intended to outdo Super Record. They squeezed in a lot more Ti parts. The 2000 freewheel had aluminum alloy cogs... Very light and very trick. Not so rugged.

3alarmer 

.
...I've not used those, but I can't say I've noticed much difference between any of the center pull brakes of that late 60's through the early 80's era. I've got them on a lot of bicycles, and they all seem to work well when set up with proper cable pull angles and new shoes, toed in a bit. They al seem to work well to stop my bikes.

The dual pivots are the thing I like about them, the hangers and adjustment not so much.

bertinjim 

fender1-

My brother had them on one of his bikes. They were beautifully made and worked very well. The levers had a built in QR but $230 for calipers alone is rather pricey.

3alarmer 

...same seller has a listing for NOS calipers with the levers for only $330. I bet for $350 you could get the front hanger too.

repechage

Way back when the Zeus 2000 center pulls arrived our view at the shop was maybe Campagnolo might come out with a centepull, they have one now for time trial bikes.

Pretty nicely done, kind of suggests pairing with the rest of the 2000 group, they very very hard to get way back, endless backorders early on.

The asking price is up there, but they don't come up that often.

JohnDThompson 

As noted above, they aren't copies of anything, but rather Zeus' own design. They have nicer finish than Universal brakes, but don't have the ball-bearing pivots the high-end Gran Compes have. They're rather short reach calipers as well, so they won't work to replace the long reach rear caliper commonly found on 70s era frames.

There was a fellow in Portugal blowing out NOS Zeus 2000 calipers last year at $50/pair. I picked up a set then, but haven't yet put them on a bike.