Solomon sez:

@bulgie is correct, extra work was incurred in brazing
@smontaro is correct, painting wasn't extra work, as it was planned anyways.

Which half of the bike do you want?

The brazing (on my frame, anyway) was also planned.

That depends on how you cut it, and if I get to pick...

--Shannon

I fear you may be disappointed by the RAIDs when they turn out to be only marginally better than the Vainqueur 750. The main problem with the SC is loooong reach.

I'm in the same boat with a '71 SC I've had since new. 27" wheels though, marginally better braking than 700c. But I put Kool Stops on it and find the braking adequate.

But yeah RAIDs will likely give at least some improvement. Less than the pad rubber though I'd guess.

Didja know KS makes replacement pads in an exact copy of the Weinmainn 4-dot? Even the salmon color looks original from a couple feet away. I think this is so "kool" that they are making these retro-repros for our weird little niche hobby, and that should be supported. Of course if you go with Mafac, KS has you covered there too, both in black for originality and in salmon for (lore has it) better braking. (I can't tell the difference but I don't trust my perception, I know how bad humans are at that sort of thing.)

If brass bushings would improve your RAIDs, they're out there and not too terribly difficult to install, though sometimes a reamer is needed due to sloppy tolerance on the holes in the brake arms. I think someone even found some oilite bronze, technically better but I doubt it makes much difference on a bike brake. What's the RPM on that bearing? Hard to compute since they only move a small fraction of a revolution. I think either brass or bronze will work the same, to the ability of a human to detect.

Anyone know, does Amir Avitzur still sell refurbished RAIDs with the brass bushings already installed? I'm guessing no, that was a while ago. Whatever he was charging, it was not enough! He even polished them, much prettier even than new from the Mafactory!

I bought my RAIDs from Amir in (I think) 2023. I haven't exchanged any emails with him in a while, but it wouldn't surprise me to find he's still refurbishing MAFAC brakes.

Today, after pondering and wondering about the whole TA / Weinmann thing, and considering that the Big Homies at The Towne Cycles in Oakland had a pair of Mafac "Racer"s in the counter case where formerly dwelt the rack, I figured "what the hell?" and added them to the list of errands for the day.

Indeed, they did have a pair.
"How much you want for 'em?" sez I.
"Thirty bucks." sez him.
"Are you sure?" sez I, in a voice of some consternation.
"Yep. Thirty bucks." says he, in a voice of serene confidence.
(I felt bad anyway, so I bought an in-need-of-rehab Brooks Pro, which will be a thread of its own.)

So herez da brakes:


(I didn't take a picture before test mounting the rack. Oops.)

What I didn't notice until I started playing with them that one of them was missing some hardware:

The bolt is also slightly bent.
If needs must, I can combine the two calipers into one complete front, correct? And then go Mafac front / Weinmann rear? (They don't look to be front/rear specific, but they're French, so who knows?)

And thus, with some trepidation, I attempted to fit together the TA Mafrac:


and danged if it don't look like the rack's been bent to fit some specific installation case already.

Whatever. Between two Mafacs and a Weinmann, I bet I can make it work.

Expect a Mafac-specific rebuild thread RSN.

--Shannon

ShannonM-

Don't worry about the approximate fit of the TA. They are, after all, just chromed wire and can - carefully- be bent to complete their accurate fitting. Be gentle, they aren't Silly Putty but they are conformable.

Thanks, bulgie. When my Super Course had 27" wheels, I put on MAFAC Racer calipers. They seemed truly better than Weinmanns. The rear pads were pointed down a bit to add reach, and if I didn't pay attention when they wore, they would scrape the tire. There was one day when I got 8 flat tires, and I found that to be the problem. So maybe it's the alloy that MAFAC used was stiffer. Or maybe I luckily got the leverage just right, but the brakes gave me a lot of confidence.

And coincidentally, I was at a hardware store and saw bronze bushings in a bin that looked like the kind I would use on center pull brakes. I should check out the dimensions. That would be pretty cool. Ain't no way I'm paying René Herse prices for bushings.

I have Kool Stop pads on the Weinmanns now. The braking is OK for road but not for gravel.

Hmmm. I've used Weinmanns on a couple Motobecanes, including my Grand Jubilé in France. For me, they work well, but I had to set the brake pads to run very close to the rim. If they were a bit too far from the rim, I could not clamp them hard enough for maximum braking.

Come to think of it, you're right. I used to run them that way. Then I got used to single-pivot side-pulls which don't care how tight or loose they are. I'll true the wheels well and tighten the brakes. It won't give me the whole improvement I need, but it will help.

So far, I mostly like the Weinmanns. But I get what y'all are saying about the lever feel / travel. On mine, with some Gods-below-know-how-old generic black rubber blocks, the Shimano SLR levers feel like they're squishing the pads into the rims like a pair of draftsman's erasers being smashed by Vice-Grips.

I did try to fit the rack to the Weinmann caliper, and I think it almost worked, but the pivot bolts are too short... if I had enough thread engaged to trust, the caliper arms were pinched too tightly to move freely.

The Probable Peugeot PKN-10's rear brake bolt is a recessed allen, so I'll need a different rear caliper if I want to run dual Mafacs. (Unless you can just swap mounting bolts, since they just slide through the backing plate, between and behind the arms.) A test fitting (that, I'm not gonna lie, started as an attempt to swap front calipers, using a multi tool and a small crescent,) turned into a lesson on "how works a centerpull," but it also revealed that, once I'm in an actual apartment and have some actual tools, I think it's all gonna work and be awesome.

--Shannon

Any updates/success?
I got a little Christmas present and curious if fits on the Wienman calipers.

It should I think, a little very careful bending may be needed, can't hurt to take the caliper apart and see.

I would think it might take longer pivot bolts but don't know, should be easy enough to figure out.

I have one I've never been inspired to try and put on yet.

I done did answer my question.
The Wienman has too much girth. Much manipulation would be involved to get the lower support brackets moved forward into position.
Using Universal calipers was a good fit, no bending involved. The pivot bolts from the Wienmans were 1/4" longer and ended up using those.

Front. The dog legs were the brake pads mount also clear the bracket portion that hangs down

Side. The Wienmans were also too wide to fit down inside the trough area.

Wienman calipers

Universal calipers

So this thread just popped back up to the top of the C&V pond. Which is super neato, because I've been pondering this rack the last few days, and debating where to put things about it. (As always, it's a trichotomy, with "thread necromancy," "start a new one," and "Search sucks. Deal with it." at the corners.)

And what I'm thinking is, swap the Weinmanns on the 1971 Raleigh Competition for the pair of Mafacs upthread, and add the TA rack and Tim Tas+Rek rando bag.

And the first question that leaps to mind is:

Which order to do the installation?

Brake to bike, then rack to brake, or "Strike that. Reverse it."?

Each way solves all of the problems of the other. A symmetry of suckage. What is best in racks? (H/T RiddleOfSteel.)

Thanks, and happy Whatever-Thing-You-Celebrate-At-The-End-Of-December!

--Shannon

Perhaps assemble rack and brake together on the bench, then attach assembly to bike?

I have a TA mini rack on my Monti Special. Yours looks bigger to me. A little fussing around got everything aligned. Direct mount posts also eliminate any worries about thickness of the complete brake assembly.

I missed this thread earlier in the year and while I don't have anything to say about the TA rack besides "really cool," I will add that a brake booster can be made out of a stainless sink drain flange. Or thrust washer, or whatever it's called. I'll see if I can find my spare and attach a photo. My Weinmann center pulls on my Miyata 610 use a pair of these home brewed boosters. Chop the ring in half, Dremel off the sharp bits, drill two holes where the brake pivot bolts go, and add longer M6 pivot bolts.
As for the lighting issue, feel free to take some ideas from here:
1964 A.S. Gillott "Alpine Tourist Deluxe", Ron Cooper brazed. Build thread.

Phil