Maxey

I bought a Bianchi Project 7 about a month ago and the seller (one of my local bike shops) threw in these brakes that had been on the bike; he told me the bushings had play so he installed some new Tektros before putting the bike up for sale. These seem to be a pretty lightweight brake set so I'm wondering who manufactured them and if they are anything 'special' or just some run-of-the-mill aftermarket units. I did several searches on ebay but didn't come up with anything. Any ideas, guesses, wild speculation or even conspiracy theories are welcomed!

unworthy1

They have a slight similarity to some Tektro (BPB model) but not a match, another set that also has similarities (and variations) are these "unknown" which were sold with BMX bikes. Yours might join the ranks as another of the "unknown BMX" crowd:
https://bmxmuseum.com/forsale/561597
not to get your hopes up but even Campy made some CNC cantis BITD, they are rarely seen and sorry but yours are not these Campy Record O.R.

and Gravity Research made some (Rim Crushers) very similar to these Campys, but again, not a match to the OP's...so I have found a lot of "not matches", but...

Maxey

Thanks for the input, unworthy1; your post motivated me to do a little more research on the brakes and I'm fairly confident that I've pinned them down as Grafton Speed Controller MTB brakes. I found a few sets on ebay that look identical to my brakes and the sellers are asking pretty crazy money for them. The cheapest used set is asking $275, there's another set asking $650 -- I also saw a single caliper with an ask of $200. There's also a NOS set that includes wheel skewers and a seatpost skewer for over $1200. Of course that doesn't mean they'll ever bring that much money, but they must be pretty highly regarded brakes for those bold asking prices. Now I'm wondering what it will take to get fresh bushings for my set.

UPDATE: Doing a google search, it looks like Grafton is selling a reissue of these brakes @ $400 for a FR & RR set. Kind of cool you can still buy them. Even cooler I got mine for free! Here's the website if anyone's interested:

Vintage MTB's | Grafton Performance.

Garthr

The rather simple CNC machining from aluminum block was an obvious clue ! The BikePro website has been around forever it seems like and continues to be a valuable resource for ID'ing many parts from the 90's.

Grafton Cantilever Bike Brakes - the Buyer's Guide, 2015

Maxey

Obvious to you maybe, haha! I read through the BikePro link you provided, pretty interesting. It seems like these brakes were sort of pioneers in aftermarket low-profile, lightweight cantilevers. In any case I'm tickled to have them. I wonder how difficult it will be to source some bushings for them? Maybe I should send an email to Mr. Grafton himself and see if I get a reply.

unworthy1

yep, they certainly appear to match the Grafton brakes (which I have never heard of) and as you say the (asking) prices are incredible for these!
Shoot, you can get Campagnolo CNC'd brakes for 10% of what some sellers ask for the Grafton examples (which look nothing very much different or better than the Campy's)
Whoddathunkit?