I love this thread.

Nice... but... sigh. Compass presents their components like jewelry, and prices them accordingly. I haven't seen the price they put on these brakes, but I'm pretty sure it will be more than I can justify spending.

In the modern, KOF world, Rob Perks' Ocean Air Rambler has braze-on mounts for Paul Racer brakes. Not interchangeable with Weinmann, Mafac or DiaCompe, AFAIK, but qualifies. Lugged steel, low-volume production frameset. For back in the day, the already-mentioned Centurion Pro Tour is the only production frame I remember with braze-on mounts.

But don't they give you ideas for another DIY project?

^^^La la la, I can't hear you.

Having braze on pivot mounts takes a lot of flex out of the system. The location of the pivots can be tuned a bit, one has to decide on where you WANT the brake block mounted in the arms and work back from that to locate the pivot. Spring preload can be adjusted too. In the rear assembly after the installation the seat stays will be the big flexor. Braze on the pivots, hard mount the cable stops, say through the stem or equally stout assembly ( early Campagnolo off road headset collars are very stout) and with decent cables/housing you have brakes transformed. Direct mount dual pivots would have you beat but then you would be on a modern carbon high end bike. Jan Heine's site has a mount kit if I recall.

They'd go well with a bespoke leather saddle.

Yeah, that's basically what I'm thinking.

As you say, Compass has what you need to braze to the frame, to fit Weinmann, Dia-Compe, MAFAC, etc. (not Paul) brakes. It's tempting.

The Peugeot PY 10 CP had them.

EDIT: Blast, already mentioned.

And hows' about moving to 650b on a 700c frame? would that get those posts high enough? Or is that another boneheaded idea?

also, rueda tropical has some nice documentation on their site. MAFAC, Dia-Compe & Paul Centerpull Brake Specs : La Rueda Tropical

650b would be possible with long enough CP's. I.e. Mafac Raids, New Compss, Dia Compe 750.

Cycles Toussaint sells a new rando-inspired frameset and complete bike with centerpull posts for Mafac etc.:

Velo Routier 650B Low Trail Frame | Cycles Toussaint

wow, that's an extremely neat frame, especially at that price point.

Sure, it would be fun, but what problem would you be solving? Do you have a bike with crappy enough brakes to warrant this treatment?

Boy, howdy, you betcha. Jan Heine tested one in the latest Bicycle Quarterly, gave it a fairly positive writeup. Just read it within the past few days, and didn't remember the Velo Routier had braze-on brake mounts. The Centurion Pro Tour, from the Bikeology catalog I last saw more than 30yrs ago I remember, the cool new frame I just read about never sank deep enough into my brain to even escape. Sheesh.

Yes. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17231006

I'd ask [MENTION=20548]JohnDThompson[/MENTION] his opinion on the Gran Compe centerpulls.

IIRC, he built his 720 with cantis before they were offered with cantis- but still has a high opinion of those centerpulls.

[MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION], what brakes has the 720 had so far, and have you tried dual pivots? I put no-name long-reach DP's on my friend Al's Super Course, and they're pretty impressive. A name brand pair would probably be even better.

I had Suntour Superbe side pulls on there for a long time. Later switched to Gran Compe. The combination of tires, fenders, and a front rack never really worked with those sidepull brakes. Nor with Mafac Racers. I could have solved the problem with a longer brake mounting bolt and a stack of spacers and just wasn't willing to go there; I want the front rack to be mounted securely.

I got Tektro dual pivots for it in August specifically for the tour I took in late August. I didn't have a whole lot of time to set up the bike, though (I was only back in NJ for one weekend) and guess what? The dual pivot brake hangs down far below the fork crown. The frame has plenty of room for fenders and fat tires, but the brake does not. Fail. That's why I toured on the Holdsworth.

Oh, that's too bad.

I didn't hear about your tour. Point me to a link if a description is online.

I never had any problems with the Gran Compe centerpulls, and they sure are pretty. But then again, I never did any loaded touring with them either. I did put MAFAC tandem cantilevers on my 720, well, just because I could and I felt like being hard core for loaded touring. But my wife did fine with loaded touring using Universal 77s on her bike.

There is not technical reason why you would want to do this. If you were to do it, you would want to do this at the time of initial building as reheating the fork crown after it has already been built is not beneficial to the fork.

I do have such a bike and there seems to be a bit more direct feel to the braking but not sufficient to warrant the considerable added work.

@Citoyen du Monde I'd love to see a full shot of that bike. Great looking frame!

If I interpret your question correctly, you're looking for a production frame with brazed-on centerpull studs, correct? Well, here you go:

Velo Routier 650B Randonneur Bicycle | Cycles Toussaint

Great deal at $500 Canadian, which is $445 US today. For that price it's a TIG bike, but you get 650b, low trail, double-butted full CrMo frame, and all of the braze-on bits for light touring/randounneuring.

Paul Components has been making a long reach and medium reach version of the Mafac racer for a while