Old brakes!
 

These Wienmann brakes are horrible. Centerpull, old and crispy. You need to have the strenght of a chimpanzee to make them work.

Centerpull Weinmann units should work just fine.

It's more likely that it's the cables, or corrosion in the units from neglect. Any additional information or photos?

If the pads are old that could contribute to the problem as well.

Yep, replace the cables, cable housings and replace the pads with Kool Stops (or pretty much anything new) and they'll be the best brakes you ever had.

Old hard pads + ? Old chrome rims = throw an anchor out the back to slow you down! I put the multi compound Kool Stops on and they really do the trick.

I think that old Weinnman and Dia Compe CP brakes are among the most clever, budget-minded things ever produced.

Never had a problem with Weinmann center pulls. Just use new pads, and set them up correctly.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...ps45717fba.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...psisl7jlh3.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...psdn8wdm1m.jpg

Also, check the toe in. Set up correctly, Weinmann CP's work very well in my experience.

Condition is everything, disassemble, clean and grease all pivot points. Are parts rusty? Old pads = toss the pads.

+1
For this ride, I have front and rear Universals operated by a single lever. I know most frown, but depending on the bike sometimes like the cables in front of the bar. Cheapo Weinmann pads. No sweat.

Scuff the pads on a block with sandpaper and dial in the toe-in. Clean all pivots minty, no grease (a dirt / grit collector) and instead use a fine grade oil. Between the arms, set a very close tolerance but not bind.... just enough so as they don't rub each other under braking. Set the pads just a fuzz off of the rims with minimal lever travel. Big plus with aluminum rims. No dice with steel rims.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=384494

:roflmao:

I have them on both Capos and on the Peugeot. The levers fit my hands perfectly, from either on-the-hoods or on-the-drops, for either controlled routine braking or a fast-grab panic stop. The calipers work well, as long as the pivots are well-lubricated but not excessively worn. Others have already covered the critical role of cables, cable housings, and decent (i.e., KoolStop) brake pads. Mushiness is generally caused by flexing in cable housing anchors, particularly in the front. One occasionally seen solution is to bring the front brake cable through the top of the handlebar stem, as on my mountain bike, which has the biggest, bulkiest, and most effective brakes ever: SunTour Rollercam front and under-the-chainstay Shimano U-brake rear.

Like the OP, I'm not a fan either. I replaced the pads with Kool-stops and things got only a little bit better for me. The cables are new. Maybe a little adjustment is needed, but I view the brakes as slightly hazardous if the unplanned occurs.

I use only grease for the same reason. Grease is just oil with thickeners added so it stays where you put it.

They are the original dual pivot brake and as said, with service and new pads they should stop you very well.

With a modern lever and cool stops they are lovely, light pressure massive stopping power IMO.

My wife got me a small Triflow dispenser with a needle tip... it is the best thing for lubing small pivots and the best lube ever for my sewing machines.

The brass bushings on the Competitions were a big improvement. If the plastic bushings on the racers are excessively worn, there will be slop in the pivots. Harris Cyclery used to have replacements, but the supply dried up. It's possible to add brass bushings to the Racers.

I have used and raced on Weinmann centerpull brakes for a whole lot of years, and find the calipers almost faultless.

I wanted more front-caliper solidity, with less flexing of the arch that can allow the pivot bolts to splay out under hard braking, but this was because I was racing offroad in wet conditions, so for this one I made a "booster" bridge plate to join the bolt heads and prevent them from moving apart.
Also this was because I had altered (increased) the leverage by installing a super-short straddle cable that required disassembly of the calipers to install, so now needed to preserve effective lever travel before point that the lever contacted the handlebar grip.
As John E. mentioned, some added flex came from the cable housing stop as well, so reducing whole-system flex became my problem.

Weinmann calipers on the used bikes I buy often suffer from loose pivot bolts, and also from these same bolts having been over-tightened (which mushrooms the pivot sleeve and/or digs the pivot sleeve into the arch), which can result in pivot binding.
So, for unmolested calipers on the used bikes I buy, I simply tighten the bolts to a reasonable torque, then apply a drop of penetrating-grade blue Loctite to the flush end of the bolts where they emerge from the hex nuts on the back side of the arch.

I wouldn't disassemble a Weinmann caliper to grease it, because they are difficult to re-assemble with the springs!
I had to do this once to fit the super-short straddle cable (and at other times to restore a pivot damaged from over-tightening), but I avoid doing this at almost all costs.

The red plastic bushings seem to be very, very long-lasting, but that said, I am reluctant to toe-in these calipers using wrench force which can over-stress these bushings. Better to shape the pad surface with a Dremel stone (after removing front wheel) to make any needed change to the pad/rim contact angle, but I find that in use that most pads will naturally and quickly wear-in to a good angle that is not predisposed to chirping.
Note that front centerpull calipers are prone to flexing toward a toe-out condition under hard braking, as the pivot bolts splay apart, but if the pads are good/grippy, the excess actuation force that causes this bolt-splay flex isn't usually much of a problem.

I typically apply a few drops of TriFlow to the pivots (as Sixty-Fiver also mentioned), after I have secured the bolt tension with Loctite, but rarely do I ever re-apply lube to a Weinmann caliper's pivots.

This Weinmann caliper has been un-touched during the last 15 years or more, and has survived hundreds of races, mostly cyclocross.
Notice the booster-bridge and shorter straddle-cable that I added back in 1997, it has not been apart since then. It still works really, really well(!), thanks in part to the finned Matthauser brake pads which are nice and long and with rigid pad holders. I change rims often from very narrow to very wide, and these pads seem to grip the sides of all of them, even with pad angle changing due to the rim width changes.
The strings/cords were added to prevent the pads/arms from swinging forward by the pull of the rotating rim, but only because this caliper is attached to cantilevered steel sheet instead of a normal fork crown.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/...b5f2b173_c.jpg

If you just switched over from Mafacs, this is understandable.

I use Tektro aero levers and v-brake threaded post brake pads with center pull calipers. The v-brake pads work if you swap the thick washer with the thin, so that the thin washer is on the side of the caliper next to the tire. The v-brake pads are a cinch to toe in. I get great stopping power.

just got my first mafac brakeset on an '80 peugeot. it's the best vintage set of the twelve or so bikes i've restored. i added the kool-stops for mafac, and have had some great fun flying down the steep hills around here. they are awesome.

the weinmann levers on my g.jubilé do suck. terrible leverage. the matching center pulls are fine though.