Huret Brakes
 

I recently acquired some NOS Huret center pull brakes with matching levers. they are really pretty! However, I can't find any information online about them.

Anyone here familiar with Huret brakes? I'm interested in finding out how rare they are, what year(s) they were made, and if they were actually manufactured by Huret or by another company under their name.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6...9cc2e96c_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6...0f1b7667_z.jpg

Those rebranded CLB center pull brakes.

+1, that's a CLB design. Fichtel and Sachs bought Huret in 1981 and later acquired CLB but that 'H in a comet' logo was used prior to the formation of Huret-Sachs and first appeared circa 1974. So they should be late 1970s and given the styling, are probably very late 1970s to 1981.

The only difference I can see is the CLB's edges seem to be worked more, slightly rounder and smoother.

They stop almost too well...they can lock up in an instant.

I read somewhere they (CLB2s) were first exhibited in the early 70's at some Paris bike show. This syncs with T-Mars timeline. Kind of rare.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...0/DSC05533.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1...0/DSC05526.jpg

wow, thank you for the info! looks like my set is missing the barrel adjusters for the brakes.

They also came with these hangers for the straddle "wire". I would try to find hangers with a similar profile if you want to use them. That wire could kink without proper support and it's likely unobtainium.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-N...0/DSC05534.jpg

The vintage stradles off s set of Mafacs would be a close match. The thing is without stradles and good barrel adjusters hangers front and rear these brakes just won't work.

I've been kicking around the idea of cutting down a spoke and threading for another nipple. I THINK that with just a little filing, you could make that work as a straddle wire for MAFAC Comps.

Wow. Am I seeing this right - are the front caliper's pivots angled outwards, and the rear's angled inwards? Never seen that before....

A standard M6 barrel adjuster should work fine:

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/Product...s/DC-B1839.jpg

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.c...em_id=DC-B1839

This sounds like something that adjustment or skill can fix, and it doesn't sound like something intrinsic to the brakes.

time to raid the small parts bin at the bike co-op tonight, i know i've seen hangers like those before.

i'm holding onto these brakes and levers because i have a fantasy about building up an all-French randonneur bike with Huret Jubilee FD & RD, Simplex retrofrictions, Stronglight triple crank, and those brakes. I just passed up a Motobecane Grand Jubile that would have been perfect...

http://www.kurtkaminer.com/CLB2_centerpull2.jpg

You see it correctly. The CLB-2 design can place an enormous amount of force on the pads. It also assists toe-in.

http://www.kurtkaminer.com/superior21057_41.jpg

-Kurt

You're right in that you can use your skill to modulate the brake action but they can take you by surprise if you're not ready for them. They're "self energizing"...the forward motion of the rim helps to pull the brakes inward due to the angled pivots. The amount of time and effort it takes to lock up is swift and easy. As Zukahn points out, here's very little adjustment you can make apart from the initial cable length and adjusters on the hoods. The straddle is a fixed length and the brake pads are uniquely shaped to suit the brake arm force. This over-sensitivity is intrinsic to the design.

Man, those really look like the very pinnacle of centerpull brake design. The more I look at late '70s-early '80s French parts, the more impressed I get. There was some very thoughtful engineering going on there.

It's easy for us to forget, but for much of the Industrial Age, France and England (including Scotland) were world leaders in technology. They were forward-thinking innovators who were not afraid to take risks. They gave us the Sud-Ouest Trident airplane, the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; Maudslay invented the first real metal lathe, cutting a more-or-less perfect screw some 4 feet long by hand. Jacques-Yves Cousteau invented the Aqualung.Jean Foucault invented the gyroscope. We would all be dead if not for Pasteur, and of course we have all become familiar with the derivations of Lucien Juy's mechanisms.

Bless the french, they gave us the Citroen DS....

http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/c...en_ds19_01.jpg

Though my CLB-2's are powerful, I have yet to experience any such sense of the brakes self-applying by virtue of the design. They modulate well and have more than enough power.

The only problem I've experienced is that the dried-out pad compound on my NOS brakes have a tendency to stick to the rim if I hit full lock the second I come to a stop. I've fully intended to replace the pads with Campag Deltas, but at the price those bring, I'll probably get a set of Scott-Mathausers and curve the ends instead.

And curse them for everything mechanical that hides under that body.

-Kurt

Just puttin' the word out now, if anyone knows of a pair of those for sale, I'd be mighty, mighty interested in buying them.