redxj

I am working on an 83' Raleigh Touring 18 bike that came stock with 27" wheels and cantilever brakes. I am converting it over to a cyclocross/commuter bike with a Shimano 105/600 7 speed group and going to 700c wheels at that time. I am having some problem with the stock (or any others I have) canti brakes not being able to contact the 700c rim. I measured from the center of the rim (700c Ma40) to the center of the canti stud is 15mm. Are there any canti brakes that I can get to work on this frame/fork? I don't mind buying new ones or even if I had to pony up the dough for a set of Paul's neo-retro or touring cantis if I knew they would work. I don't want to have to use center pull or side pulls as many would have problems with the planned 700c X 30 Kenda cross supreme tires + maybe fenders that are in this bikes future. It that is the only option I will probably keep looking for another frame/fork to use instead of this one.

Durward_Kirby

Tektro makes long brakes that you can use to convert.

fender1

I recently did a conversion on a 1985 Schwinn Passage from 27" to 700c. I used a set of Shimano Deore Canti's from an old mountain bike (from the late 80's). Worked with no problems as the brakes had enough room for adjustments.

nlerner

+1 on Shimano cantis. I just did a 27" to 700c conversion on a Fuji touring bike and found that a set of Shimano BR-MC70 brakes gave me enough wiggle room.

Neal

cyclotoine

+3 for the shimano deore canti's they seem to be the ones with enough adjustment. keep in mind newer cantilever studs are even further away from the rim than these old touring bikes were so when you have a bike made for 27" and convert to 700c you are bringing the rim even closer.

Az B

Is it coming up short in travel or diameter?

Az

Durward_Kirby

https://www.bestwebbuys.com/bikes/sea...ilever&x=1&y=1

fender1

Am I correct that new canti's often have two mounting tabs in the rear vs. one for older bikes and brake sets??

Durward_Kirby

Scratches head....

I don't know.

My first post was made after not reading the original well enough to see he was looking for canti's. I bought long reach side pulls that I used. Sorry.

redxj

With the pad moved down to the lowest possible setting on the canti arms it touches the tire and doesn't even close to hitting the rims.

mrmw

I'm facing a similar issue with an '84 Miyata Six Ten. The stock Dia Compe 981 cantilevers adjusted fine on the fronts, but on the back are barely (by about 1mm of tire clearance and still 1 or so mm's high when it contacts the rim) ok.

I'm leaning towards Tektro Oryx Cantilevers because Rivbike.com reports them "A fine cantilever, light and powerful and easy to set up, and it has the most upward and downward adjustment of any. We've sold hundreds and use them ourselves. Good."

cyclotoine

These and dia-compe 982 NGC (Nuovo Gran compe?) are the best vintage cantilevers and as stated above most have had great success with them on 27" to 700c conversions.

https://cgi.ebay.com/New-Vintage-Shim...QQcmdZViewItem

Lamplight

My Univega came with THESE and I didn't have any trouble converting to 700c wheels. However, they aren't especially powerful.

digitalbicycle

If you do go with the Oryx brakes, be sure to google around for the best price. Rivendell has 'em for $55 (I think that's for two sets) but other websites have them for $40 for two sets, or even $30 if you can find a sale.

cyclotoine

I found those to work quite well (not on conversions, just in general) and the basic geometry is the same as a dia-compe 982, the difference is the 982 has an eccentric cam which allows you to adjust the whole thing a 1.5 mm lower (or higher), not quite the 4mm that one would desire but a definite improvement. The adjustment in the deore is in the cam where the pad mounts. I think the 982s are pretty damn classy, I only hope I can use them when I upgrade my touring frame to a LHT.

Courtesy of Mr. Broderick:


I also think these look good.


Available HERE.

Pehaps you shoudl email velo orange to find out what their range of adjustability is. Looks like there might be room for a rat tail file to make the slot a little longer, the only issue is you basically have 2 settings for how far the pad it mounted from the canti itself depending on how you use the washers while the old style is unlimited in this regard.

The disadvantage of some of the cool mafac style brakes they sell is there is no adjustability.

SweetLou

I just got some Oryx for my mountain bike frame. There are two guys on eBay that sell them. One of them sells them for $28 the other $29, but the $29 dollar seller had $6 shipping opposed to $10. Do a search for Oryx in the brake section for road bikes, not mountain bikes.

This was for 2 sets, a complete bike and the newer kind with cartridge brake pads.

jgedwa

Just went through this myself on a Trek 620.

I my bike, I found no problems whatsoever with the rears since they were fairly widely spaced. But the fronts were very narrow. So narrow that the real problem was not a matter of reach, but a matter of angle. I finally gave up on using a set with threaded posts since the funny washer-thingys just didn't give me the angle I needed. I threw on an old set with smooth posts that allowed me to rotate to whatever angle I needed.

They still do not stop real well though, and I will probably have to rethink the whole thing before long.

jim

mrmw

+1 here too. Not perfect, but on an '84 Miyata Six Ten rear a big improvement over the stock Dia Compe 981's.

Thanks to all for the heads up.

dwainedibbly

I briefly swapped a 700c front wheel on to my old 27" wheeled Santana tandem and the old Mafac cantilevers looked like they'd work fine. Just another data point....

redxj

If you end up getting the Oryx please report back on how well they worked.

I abandoned that project, and just used my Nishiki Seral touring bike with the stock Dia Compe cantis and I didn't have any trouble with adjusting them to 700c from 27". But, I am not sure how powerful of a brake they are so I still might consider upgrading to the Oryx or some vintage Shimanos at a later date.

mrmw

I got very lucky and as a result of this thread looked, then sniped a pair of early vg condition BR-MC70's for $11 in the door for which I already had an almost new pair of kool stop eagle II salmon's. They mounted and adjusted well.

So no Oryx's here. But I too remain interested in how much vertical adjustment the Oryx's have. Anyone else, please report back?

mrmw

data point update. Doh.

ref: '84 Miyata Six Ten 25" frame. Stock front Dia Compe 981's made the conversion from 27" to 700c just fine.

Rear, not. BUT--at the time of conversion, the rear wheel was slid forward in the dropout 1.3cm in order to decrease the c-t-c distance between the rear derailleur bolt and the axle. And successfully, lessening it from 35.5mm to 31.5mm. Which enabled it to index perfectly. With the long long dropout, there is still 44.2cm c-t-c crank to rear axle.

But with the 4mm lowering of the rear wheel, coupled with the 4mm lowering from the 27" to 700c conversion, the stock Dia Compe 981's could not handle it.

The replacement early Shimano BR-MC70's installed on the rear acceptably. Not perfectly. But considering the 8mm adaptation required, under the circumstances pretty darn well.

digitalbicycle

It seems that the Dia Compe 982 NGC and the Shimano BR-MC70 are the two frontrunners for converting. Cyclotoine has informed us that the Dia Compes allow for 1.5mm adjustment. Any chance you can measure the adjustability for the Shimanos and report back?

digitalbicycle

Has anybody had any experience w/these? A ton of adjustability, and it looks like when adjusted to the lowest point they're shorter from pivot to pad mounting than the Dia Compes.

https://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-Dia-compe-VC...QQcmdZViewItem

digitalbicycle

Just checking again if somebody would mind grabbing their calipers and telling us how much adjustability the BR-MC70s have, so we can see which brakeset allows for more adjustability. Thanks.