Why do so many people seem to dislike Mafac brakes? I've seen a number of posts from people who think they're awful, including one recent one where the poster referred to them as "those horrible Mafac Racer brakes," or something. I was wondering because I've had a number of bikes with Mafacs over the years and they always work fine for me. They don't seem to be outstandingly better or worse that the Weinmann center pulls on one of my other bikes, or the Suntour Cyclone sidepulls on another, or even the 1990's Shimano cantilivers on my touring bike. I mean, they stop fine, they're not hard to adjust, and they're obviously durable. I know some people claim that they squeak, but I've never found that to be a problem. In my experience, any brake will squeak if you don't clean the rim from time to time, and the Mafacs don't seem any worse in this respect than any other brake.
What gives? I like to think of myself as an open-minded guy, and I'd be willing to give Mafac-hating a try if someone can tell me why that's a good idea. Maybe it's tied up somehow with a more general distaste for France/things French?
JV

The people who rant against them probably haven't learned how to set them up properly and haven't tried them with Kool Stop pads.

I don't think it's about their being a French product, it's not for me and it shouldn't be for the rest of us: these are inanimate objects, they don't have any "personality" unless we give them that quality. But looking at just the cold facts, Mafacs have about the same stopping power as the aluminum centerpull competition from the same time period (Weinmann, DiaCompe copies of same, Universal), which is to say not very good compared to the state of the art today. But that's an unfair comparison. Most vintage CPs can be decent performing brakes when they are clean and lubed, set up with good cables and (most important) good pads (like KoolStops). The unique down side to Mafacs (which some people consider a plus) is the way the unthreaded pad and Mafacs attachment design allow for another angle of the pads to be adjusted (and got wrong, too). I think it's this feature that causes many people to set up the brakepads with poor rim contact and the result is the squealing that Mafac Racers are infamous for.

I second Dirtdrop's comments. With new pads, proper set-up and a toe-in, you've got a versatile brake with good looks, long reach and great stopping power. They also came as original equipment on a lot of bikes with Rigida steel rims. No brake will performs its finest effort when matched with these rims.

Ive had Mafacs on at least 6 bikes, all worked great and none squealed, squeked, or any other noise for that matter, fine brakes if you ask me

I have Mafacs on my Gitane TdF (aluminum rims). They are a lot better than I expected them to be, and I am still using the original Mafac pads.

The Koolstops made for Campagnolo NR/SR holders will slide right into the Mafac holders, but they are about 3/16" too short. I think they look kind of goofy, but they work so well that I'm going to keep using them.

You could easily saw/grind off the end of those pad holders if it bothers you....

Mafac's just squeal too much, but work well.

I think Mafacs work fine, certainly better than Weinmann centerpulls. But I find them a little fiddly to setup well, and the lever reach too much.

Mafrac calipers I've used stop as well as Weinmanns, but are a bit harder to set up.
I don't like the levers though, as the reach is too long for my stubby fingers.
Top
(who has trouble with N-frame S&Ws as well).

with a file and time, you can get all Mafac brakes to work well. Wear at the pivots does occur faster than most brands and most importantly why go through the hassle when many other brake calipers are available at the same price that work just as well without the hassle? The only Mafac brakes I have on bikes of mine are those where the pivots are brazed directly to the frames.

I believe the general consensus as to why the Mafac Racers and the lettered Competitions are despised - mechanical ability aside - is the fact that the finish on them is less then spectacular. Rough is more like it.

I've seen some Mafac Competitions on eBay that are finished off better then the lettered version though - those aren't too bad, visually, but I rarely see a VLW with these variants mounted to it.

-Kurt

I have racers on my px10. they brake very well. I have a question, though:

I replaced the wheelset on the bike, which was previously setup as a fixie, with some mavic open 4 cds, and now they squeal like CRAZY. Like, so bad I am embarrassed every time I have to stop. The rims are clean and I have set them to toe-in, and I have brand new Kool Stop pads on them, and still the horrendous sound. They didn't squeak at all on the last pair of wheels I had with the same pads. What's the deal?!

THANKS!

I have Mafac Racers on my UO8 and Universal Type 61's on my Bottecchia Giro d'Italia, I like the Universals better but I think there is more to it than the brake calipers themselves. I find more friction from the rear cable setup on the UO8 which hurts brake feel and the levers have popped into their "release" or "open" mode a couple of times for no particularly obvious reason but probably mal-adjustment. The Universals look much nicer and have never given me any trouble.

I'll adress a couple of comments....

1. If they are making noise after changing wheels you have a brake pad/rim incompatibility. IIRC open 4CD's have dark sidewalls? You may need to change brake pads or get rid of the color on the rim sidewalls.

2. If the have more 'brake cable feel' well, thats not a problem with the brakes per say its a problem with the cable.

I've set up and adjusted hundreds and hundreds of these brakes. They're not difficult to do you just need to know how to do it. Remember, your dealing with a how many decades old design? Of course modern brakes may work better or be easier to adjust. Isnt that what time and technology is all about?

The Competitions are nicer than the Racers. They're finished better and have brass bushings rather than plastic. One in each pair has a slotted mount that acts like a drop bolt. It's too bad they require unobtainable double ended bridge wires, but I make them out of cable and brass tubing.

I have to admit that neither of my French bikes has the original Mafacs. I put Campagnolo on the Peugeot and Dura Ace on the Gitane. I'm using the Competitions on the Carlton. It needs long-reach brakes.

The cabling actually feels great. Yeah, my open 4 cds have the dark sidewalls. Should I switch pads or scrub that stuff off? If the latter, what should I use?

Thanks.

I had to remove the Competitions from both of my Gitane TdF's because of the infernal squealing. I was able to reduce it some by installing Mathauser blocks and setting the toe in on them, but I was never able to get rid of it completely. Perhaps it was the other adjustment that Unworthy1 referenced, but it looked like they had good rim contact to me. Other than the squealing though, I found them to be remarkably effective brakes. Much better than any Weinmanns that I have had.

Disclosure: I have original Weinmanns on the Capos, Campa. sidepulls on the Bianchi, and a Mafac front / Peugeot-labeled Weinmann rear combination on the UO-8. Mafac brakes have three significant functional advantages over other centerpulls:
1) the straddle cable can be replaced with ordinary brake cable -- no proprietary double-header required;
2) the caliper's leverage can be adjusted simply by changing the length of the straddle cable (shorter for stronger braking with longer handle travel);
3) the pads' rim-strike angle can be readily adjusted.

That would be true if Racers were the only brakes that Mafac ever made. Numbers 1 and 2 are not true of Mafac Competitions or GT's. They take a double ended cable. See the diagrams of Racers. Competitions and GT's here:

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/mafac.html

I was lucky enough to find a few sets of those cables when I was putting this Motobecane together a few months ago... I thought I was out of luck and could not use these beautiful gold Competitions....

Zowie, that's sn***y! I've got a Grand Record also, but it sure doesn't have the bling of yours.

Stupid auto editors

Hilary Stone has been selling those ball end wires for the later Competitions for $14. My early Competitions take the barrel-ended type. I've made bridge wires for them using brass tubing, cable scraps and silver solder.