Would it be a sin...
 

Would it be a sin to put a Japanese Dia-compe 750 brake on the front of my wife's Peugeot Mixte?

I scored a Peugeot Mixte that has a rear Mafac Racer brake on it but has no front brake. I have a Dia-Compe 750 that looks like it will work. Part of me wonders if the Japanese front brake will get along with the French rear brake.


Also, eBay sucks. I can only find pairs of Mafac brakes and they go for too much. I just need a front brake and all the bits...

Yes. If you do, you are guaranteed to go to that other place.
- (Can't say bike-hell here 'cause the mods will bleep it out. ;))

Seriously, the Mafac Racers are about the best C&V brake ever, and look "oh so right" on your wife's pug. I would do what I had to do to get it road worthy for now, but not give up the search for the real McCoy.

PM me... I have what you're looking for pulled off my early 70's (I call it a 1972) PX8L. I converted my bike to drum brakes and don't need the original brakes any longer.

I'm sure the Diacompes 750 caliper would work well enough to stop the bike in most conditions, but consider what feels best for you and your wife to put on the bike. If aesthetics on the C&V Peugeot mixte is important enough for both of you, just bite the bullet and get a set of Mafac Racers when you find a set in good enough condition and a price you can afford. Just consider at the second caliper as a source of spare parts, to keep the other two going for the next few decades. You have to consider that they will only get more exepnsive to get them in the future.

Chombi

I'm installing Weinmann or Dia Compe (can't recall which) 750s on a 1975 Peugeot mixte I'm building up for my mom. It will have Kool Stop pads. I wouldn't put them on my mother's bike if I thought they were anything less than adequate. I wouldn't put mis-matched calipers on any bike, though. That's a form over function call.

Japanese? What's in a label? The calipers on my Suntour Superbe Pro brakes have parts that are interchangeable with Campy Record of that era.

What does she think?

The question is moot now, thanks to photogravity, I'll have a matching front Mafac Racer. My wife didn't care a whole lot, but I did. I couldn't stand having mismatched brakes.

As for the rest of the parts... Many will have to have Japanese or others. I simply don't have enough French parts.

You can NEVER have too many French parts!! :)

A sin is when you do something bad to a bike that can't be undone. Putting the "wrong" brake on while looking for the "right" one seems pretty minor to me.

For reference, here's the bike in its current form:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/...a68600b7_z.jpg

I would prefer something other than those wheels, but they are what I have.

Also, I feel I paid a little much for it, but I bought it from the local co-op and they'll make good use of the money. I enjoy them so much I volunteer every Sunday there.