I have a question about Campy brakes. Are they all Left Side pull? I'm working on the '66 Paramount I bought off ebay. It came in pieces before Christmas and I haven't done much with it. Today I disassembled the brakes, cleaned, lubed and was installing them and noticed this problem. The Paramount (like my Traveler) has brake cable stays on the right hand side of the top-tube. But the Campy pull arm is on the left hand side. How do I rectify this? Take a look at the pictures of the rear brakes on both Schwinns. (The Paramount is coppertone on the left. The Traveler is blue on the right and has Shimano 600 brakes.)

Thanks for your help!

Bob

Not clear with what you mean by brake cable stays on right hand side of top tube. Are there braze ons there? How about a pic? AFAIK, Campy are all left side pull.

You have tall seatstays so I would simply cross the cable housing over to the left side using black housing so it won't be too noticable.

I'm thinking Campag calipers have the cables on the "traditional" side. Remember, the Japanese drive on the "wrong" side of the road. Back in old days the right hand brake lever was for the front brake, just like it still is on motorcycles. With that arrangement the cables did not criss-cross over the stem. Then the U.S. Safety Nazis decreed that newbies locking up the rear brake was "safer" and would thwart Darwin, so the brakes changed.

Yes, I meant to say "braze ons." Since I posted I searched ebay and all the Campy brakes are left side pull (except the Delta brakes). I also found another Paramount with Records instead of the Weinmann center pulls. They ran the rear brake cable with full housing along the top tube and fastened it with 3 chrome clips. I couldn't tell if the right side braze ons were still present. I've thought about having it painted and I suppose I could have the braze ons moved at that time.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Bob

Crossover or do what some of the British "testers" (time trialers) did , mount the brake facing forward, then everything is on the same side.

When this bike was built, Campagnolo brakes were not yet on the market, Weinmann centerpull brakes were standard.

Campagnolo brakes came out in 1968, the first units did not have the name stamped on them, (urban legend was it was to be legal for the '68 Summer Olympics, no corporate advertising back then, corinthians all). Today the "blank" brakes fetch big $ to the collectors and the period correct crowd.

Thanks for this piece of information. I'm the third owner. The second owner acquired the bike when he was 20 and working in a California LBS in 1979. A 5 ft tall woman came in with the bike (which has a 25 inch sized frame) who said it had been left to her by her uncle, and she asked, "Could you tune it up so I can ride it?" Obviously she couldn't ride such a large bike so they gave her a good trade in and sold her a new correctly sized bike. The second owner added the campy brakes and mavic tubular rims (he sent me three sets I'll never use).

If I reverse the rear brake is there any chance of frame damage with such a setup? Or will it just look funny?

Bob

Summation of forces is the same. Dare to be different

I still don't see why you can't just cross the cable over to the other side. It shouldn't add too much bend. I don't think it will cause any binding of the cable.

I'm going to give it a try with some old cable and casing to see how it works. I didn't want to ruin a new casing if it was too much binding.

Bob

I can tell you from personal experience that the first-generation Campag. sidepulls I put on my Bianchi do not stop particularly well. If you want your Paramount to be authentic/original, consider replacing those anachronistic, ineffective calipers with a set of Weinmann centerpulls. Install KoolStop salmon pads (Sheldon Brown / Harris Cyclery has them) and new cables and housings, and you are good to go (or stop, for that matter).

If you want to keep the Campags., don't hesitate either to cross the cable over, to use cable clips on the top tube, or to mount the caliper on the front side of the brake bridge. Each of this solutions should work fine; choose the one which looks best to you. If you are having the frame repainted anyway, consider having the braze-ons moved to the centerline (either bottom or top, depending on your taste) of the top tube, or, if you don't care about looking authentic, have three brake cable housing eyelet guides brazed onto the top center of the top tube.

I think that a '66 Paramount is old and rare enough that I would leave the factory brake cable braze-ons alone. Use the cable housing clamps if you wish. I'm afraid that modifying the frame from stock may hurt the value of the bike in the future. I was considering having the braze-ons removed from my '71 P15-9 Paramount tourer(a far less rare bike than yours), but I think I will not do it for the same reason.

Do the Weinmann centerpulls stop any better than the DiaComp centerpulls? They were on my Traveler and I've recently replaced them with Shimano 600 sidepulls (BUT--- I haven't road tested the Shimanos just yet--- but they do stop me very nicely on the trainer !) The DiaComps always felt a bit "squishy" as if the center cable stretched ever so slightly each time I braked. Thanks for the great ideas and suggestions.

Bob

I am worried about this. But does repainting, even in the orginal color, change the value as well?

Thanks,

Bob

I'm certainly no expert, but here are my impressions. Collectors want bikes that are as original as possible. If your original paint is truely beyond redemption, go ahead and repaint keeping the new paint and decals as close to original as possible. If your original paint isn't all that bad, it's probably best to clean it up as well as you can and keep it. I'm not sure where you draw the line on the judgement call to repaint. I think a good quality repaint can sometimes enhance the value of the bike, but as a general rule, I wouldn't bet on it. My two cents worth, but as I said, I'm no expert, but I have been watching ebay like a hawk for about 7 years.

As far as the Weinmann centerpulls go. I have several bikes with these and am not impressed with their performance, even with Mathauser pads on them.

The general rule of thumb is: Whether you're talking bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, tractors or whatever; if you can keep it original, do so. After all, any bike can be perfectly restored by somebody who's willing to spend the money/time, but a bike can only be original once.

Once you get past a certain age (something over thirty, but definitely by fifty, years) a bike in clean but shabby original condition is always worth more than something that's been restored so pristine that the factory didn't assemble them that good (which seems to be where the restoration standard always goes, given enough time).

Syke
Deranged Few M/C