Old Gitane w/weird brakes!
 

My Chiropractor turned me on to his old Gitane Olympic Record II.
Pretty tall for me, but these brakes intrigued me...
ever seen these?
Seems kinda hi-tech for such a middle-of-the-road lookin' bike.
He told me he wanted better brakes and the LBS gave him a deal on these stoppers.:p

The bike has upright handlebars, but other than that, and the brakes, it looks pretty stock.
What year is an OR II?

Thanks, Dr. D

the look kinda like some of the center pulls found here

Thanks 28c! I did find out about some other brakes I have, like the Dura Ace AX's and the Marinovative Decelerators, but not the brakes I have in the picture.
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OK, my curiosity got the best of me. I went and wiped the crud off the brake to find they are..

Scott SuperBrakes!

What vintage are they? 80's? 90's?
The previous owner said he'd had the bike for more than 20 years and he had the brakes changed 10-15 years ago.

I recall seeing them in early '80s, looks like you have the questionable finned Scott Mathauser pads, too. These have a reputation for danger because it's been said the the friction pad, glued on to the alloy holder, can come unglued when you least want that to happen. But there's little/no documentation of it actually ocurring. They took 'em off the market, so it may have been true or just the market's fear and lawyers having their say. You don't see these calipers often, wonder if they are collectable to somebody...

They are Scott Superbrakes. I want a set.

unworthy1, I don't think those particular pads are glued into the holders. They are installed the same way as every other brake pad and the vast majority of Scott pads.

Gitane (almost a Pug)
 

Looks like a paper cutter, gotta love the French, I have seen these when I was over seas in Italy in the early 90's, though some french bikes are a weird anyway, I have an early 70's Gitane Gran Luxe 10 with a very small frame, it has the mafac stuff and ALDO high flange hubs which are close to, if not made by normandy of the time, a good steel bike and very retro cool. May sell it soon to make room for a few more bikes.

edit: removed the charged term for french to a more PC term (French).

cool page!

I have those Matthaeuser pads on my Touring bike. Great stoppers & never had any problems but I was unable to find any replacements & just went with Kool Stops for replacements. Don

Did you go to the bottom of the page 28c provided? Click back to the main page and you will see the webmaster is looking for pics of your SuperBrakes. He/she may have some info for you.

I'll take your word for it, but I DID own a set of early finned aluminum backed Matthauser pads that were held on by glue, as least that's how I recall them...very likely they modified the construction before scrapping the product...

I have an incomplete set of those, and a complete set on my Peugeot PSV-10. Interesting pads to say the least. Perfect for an '80s build...

-Kurt