Oops. You're right, Dirtdrop. I even had a pair of the Competitions, and I still got the model name wrong. Man, is my face ever red.

Mafacs were pretty much the state of the art in the mid-50's to late-60's, at least for raw stoppng power. They also alerted potential witnesses in traffic accidents, because unless you had them set up juuuuuust right, they squealed loud enough to wake the dead when applied. The sound could be really obnoxious.

Not sure about the availability (ie: to the general public) of C-Record in '84, mainly because it's my understanding that it was released and therefore subplanted Super Record in the late 80's and into the early 90's. Doesnt make any difference though. As to the aerodynamics, that issue became more key with C-Record after the delta brake design. If there was any brake that was completely unaerodynamic, it would have to be the deltas. (IMO of course).....after all, I'm just a bike rider.

I have a brochure from 1984 showing C-record, in any case it was definitely in the pro peleton in 1984. The first generation of Delta's were from 1984 as the cobalto's were introduced in 1985 while they worked on revising the delta design.

Interesting

of that I have no doubt, however in '84 Hinault and Fignon both were using Super Record in the TDF. In '85 Hinault was using Super Record too as did Greg LeMond in '86. In '88 a lot of the pros were using Delta brakes even into the early 90's, then subplanted by Record dual-pivot in '92.

Really its interesting what the pros did or did not use for a given year, as compared to when components were actually available.

Yep. Here she is:

Bump.

I just bought a 1984 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe, and was surprised to find ("Schwinn Approved") center pull brakes on it. I initially thought somebody had put them on in place of Dia-Compe side pulls, but they did appear in the sales brochures for 1984. The touring model above the Le Tour Luxe, the Voyageur, came with Cantilever brakes. Just thought I would include this for what it might be worth.

The current Bicycle Quarterly magazine has a virtual expose' on all of this.

U-brakes are exactly the same design as centerpulls, but the studs are part of the frame instead of a bolted-on part. It's quite apparent when you look at this picture.

Suntour made campy copies @ significantly less. i just sold some last summer. Parts were interchangable. SunTour Superbe and Superbe Pro.
Bought a set back in the day to replace my Model 61's as i broke one of the arms. Problem was reach in the back. I found replacement parts last summer and restored the old set, selling the SunTour's for $125 in the original box.

It was pointed out on the Road Forum that Specialized and others are using centerpulls on their Time Trial race bikes.

an interesting footnote on MAFACs. I read this somewhere, and can't for the life of me remember the source of the story, so take it with a grain of salt, but...

during the '70's, you, the hotrod racer on a descent, would often feel a hand on your back and hear the word "MAFAC". Then you knew that you were braking for two...

In an ideal world, we'd all be using hydraulic discs, that weigh less than the air that they displace. Nothing else comes anywhere close to the power and modulation of a disc. They are even better in rain, mud, snow, crap.

Whoever set that up didn't even bend the cable end away from the caliper.

-Kurt

They are similar, they are not the same.

Read that story too, in Winning Bicycle Racing Illustrated in the '80s. And the word was "Mavic." Mavic has repeatedly tried to extend their expertise beyond rims, with varying success.