Hello, i'm in the process of restoring an early 1970s Dawes Galaxy which was outfitted with Weinmann center pull brakes. Thankfully i have the brakes in good working order, but need to replace the pads/holders. Looking online, i see many options to buy inserts that would be a good match for my bike, but i don't see any pad holders for sale. How are these pads sold without holders? The holders i have don't allow the pads to be changed out, so would need to buy new pads/holders, but i haven't been able to find a good match of both pad and holder. It's like i'm missing out on some nether world where you magically slide new inserts into your ancient pad holders. What am i missing?

Kool Stop makes some quality pads & shoes. Also some fully integrated sets. Do not buy any OEM Weinmann!
Amazon.com : Kool Stop Bicycle Brake Pads with X Pad (Dura-Ace/Ultegra) : Bike Brake Pad Inserts : Sports & Outdoors

https://velo-orange.com/collections/...dge-road-shoes

Welcome to C &V
Glad you found us !
I have used the ''cheap and cheerfuls '' with good effect on Weinmann centrepulls .Inexpensive Look the part and seem to grip fine.
Several manufacturers out there . Fibrax ? Oxford? BBB ? etc .

I just wander around eBay until I find something that looks about right. This probably is not good enough for the hardcore collector, but for those of us who just want to go ride, it can be done for $25 at most. I almost never, though, find just the holders; they almost always come with blocks installed. That doesn't strike me as an issue, but there you go.

It sounds like you may have come across the Kool Stop replacement pads. These are great at maintaining the original color and pad pattern. The problem with them is getting the originals out of the pad holder and the new ones in. I have to admit, I'm not bad with these type of things and have done them before, however, they are a pain to do. Trying to pry open the pad holders with a screw driver while keeping the pad holder stable is a challenge.


If you have a stable vise, and a piece of heavier steel that you can drill a hole into. I have a piece of "U" channel. Bolt the pad holder to the steel and clamp the steel in a vice and have at it. This can help to stabilize the pad holder while you work it out. Make sure the new pads are in there properly because your health depends on it staying put.

Or you can forget about originality and get a pad with a pad holder or an integrated pad holder. Perhaps you can save those original pad holders for a later date when you are better prepared to take on the challenge.

I like the Kool Stop Continental since it was available back in the 80's and I think the 70's. It is just bolt on. It would be considered period correct, but not original. I also like the black Jagwire basic pads. They are a pad with a pad holder and only need to be bolted on.

Someone is making a version of the 6 dot Weinmann pad in red with a holder. I was in a local bike shop for something else. 'Looked down in the case when paying for the thing that I came for and saw these and bought them. They turned out to be slightly smaller than the original, but unless you compared them side by side, you wouldn't know.

I'm sure you'll bet better advice here and maybe some better tips on how to replace the pad in the pad holder.

I'm guessing it's the standard Weinmann X pads and holder.
The holders can have 4 or 3 sides, for the 4 side ones just bend one end down with a screwdriver and slide the pad out.
The 3 sided ones need to be installed the correct way round.
Can be a bit fiddely but not too hard.

Kool Stop make X pads in black and salmon - salmon work better in the wet but maybe wear down slightly faster.
https://www.koolstop.eu/rim-brake-pa...s-wxsa-salmon/

Before < > after

Get em while you can.
https://www.bmxguru.com/products/sco...-pads-usa-made
Pork Chop BMX used to have these but they seem not to have them now.

I have done this as well. The end piece usually breaks off but no big deal. I did have to crimp the long sides of the holder a bit so that it held the new pad securely, but the brakes worked fine with that slight modification.

These actually look pretty good and would satisfy my restoration. In my ideal world i would find some 4-dot salmon colored Kool-Stops with a holder, but thank you for this hint. We often don't get to live in our ideal world..

Thanks for this. You're right that i'd love to fit some Kool-Stops to these brakes but the ones i've chased don't have any holders and i don't see a way to buy just a holder. Thanks to all of you responding, i've realized i shouldn't be wedded to the holders i've got, since they have long been changed out for exactly this reason. The ones i have currently are just cheap junk i bought at a store so many years ago. That said, i'd love to find some nice holders that i could squeeze the 4-dot salmon Kool-Stops into.

Then you should swap out those brakes for MAFACs. Which work better than Weinmann brakes anyway . . . .

I got 2 matching sets of John Bull brake holders with the rear side open off ebay. They came with rock hard, mismatched, unevenly worn original black John Bull pads and Fibrax. It's hard to find the Kool Stop John Bull replacement pads, but I found some on ebay. The John Bull holders are really designed for thinner steel calipers so the threads are on the short side, but there's enough engagement that it works. Black would have been better, but they're better than the integrated Kool Stops, the look of them, and they do stop nice.

hiya - I just typed " 40mm brake pad '' into Ebay and got a heap of options your side of the world ,like the ones in my pic .

Also - I know we would all like to see a pic or two of the Dawes

No one in this thread has shown the correct pads for OP's brakes, early 1970s Weinmann center pull. That should be 4-dot, "salmon", in a 3-sided aluminum (not steel!) holder. Even the 3-sided holder came in two variants, one with little pokies to try to keep the pad from slipping out the open end, but that style is too new for OP's bike, he needs the one without the pokies. That's the one on the left in this pic:


I can supply a set of four of each of those types.

Oldest vintage, well-used, set of four, $50:

Sorry about the high priice but it's my last set.

Mid-vintage ('pokies'), well-used, set of four, $20:


Newest vintage, 4-sided holder with 'windows', well-used, $10:


Newest vintage, 4-sided holder with 'windows', NOS, $30:

That's for the 4 pads with holders, not the display card, which I am keeping.

if you want I can also mount four Kool Stop salmon Weinmann-repo rubbers in any of the holders shown above, but I charge full retail* on the pads and $20 labor, maybe worth it to you if you don't have a vise or other way to install them. Installing them in the 4-sided holders requires bending one of the sides down, and it'll break off, leaving it as a 3-sided holder. So you will forever after be required to put them in the bike facing the right way, so as not to die.
*Porkchop BMX sells them for $38/set, the only place I looked, tell me if they're cheaper elsewhere.

haha the frame is off being painted and the rest of it is scattered over my basement floor.

i never would have guessed this is what fun looks like at my age..

Thank you, you have confirmed what i thought i needed. 4-dot salmon pads. i had forgotten that the holders were aluminum but that makes perfect sense to match the alloy rims, which at one time had a knurled braking surface to aid stopping but that has long since worn off.

Ha, I'm with ya on the definition of fun. I love that "exploded" photo, thanks for sharing.

If the cranks are Williams (I think they are) then they and/or the chainrings should have a two-letter* date code, next to a sort of sword logo. In case you need help dating the bike.
*before '38 it was a single-letter code. I'll omit those since your bike is not that old.

AA 1938
AB 39
AC 40
AD 41
AE 42
AF 43
AG 44
AH 45
AI 46
AJ 47
AK 48
AL 49
AM 50
AN 51
AP 52 [no O]
AS 53 [no Q or R]
AT 54
AU 55
AW 56 [no V]
AX 57
AY 58
AZ 59

ZA 1960
ZB 61
ZC 62
ZD 63
ZE 64
ZF 65
ZG 66
ZH 67
ZI 68
ZJ 69
ZK 70
ZL 71
ZM 72
ZN 73
ZP 74 [no O]
ZS 75 [no Q or R]
ZT 76
ZU 77
ZW 78 [no V]
ZX 79
ZY 1980

Thanks much for posting this, i'm sure it's great information for anyone else who might have a Williams crankset. i thought mine was Williams, but if your list is accurate i don't make the cut? My father bought me this bike as a birthday present in Fall of 1974.

NF and NA

For those curious, here is the frame about to be taken to the paint shop. i may make another post asking about the green...i'm nervous

Did you look on the chainrings? They're on the back side, on the ones I've seen

Yep, Williams mark will be on the chainring:

50 tooth chainring, date code ZF

On those old Weinmanns, the pads were usually molded directly into the metal holders, so they aren't replaceable inserts like modern ones. You have to buy the entire assembly, including the post and the nut. Most people just swap them for modern Kool-Stop Continental pads since they fit the vintage aesthetic but actually stop the bike.

There was nothing on the chainrings but i'll look again. From the picture Aardwolf posted it should be obvious.

I think your crankset is Nicklin.