Many of us are converting frames designed for older 27" wheels to use modern 700c wheels. A common problem is brake reach - such that when you swap in the smaller wheels, your brake calipers don't reach quite far enough. Most modern brake assemblies a) are very short reach and b) use recessed nuts for mounting.

On older frames, you basically have two options (as I understand it).
1) Find older nutted long-reach brakes that fit (by nutted brakes, I mean brakes that have the full length bolt that reaches all the way through the fork, etc, allowing you to use a standard nut). This is an increasingly difficult option.

2) Find long reach recessed brakes and drill out the back of your fork, etc to accept the recessed nut.

Well, I didn't want to go with #2, so I began the search for long-reach nutted brakes. I'm also sick of messing with centerpulls (coming from mafac racers), so I wanted a dual-pivot caliper design. I originally picked up the Tektro 800a for $18 (https://www.modernbike.com/itemgroup.asp?IGPK=2126175524). However, I wasn't thrilled with the quality and didn't like that they lacked the "quick release lever" for the brake cable. So, I also picked up a pair of the Tektro R556 calipers for $45 (https://aebike.com/page.cfm?action=de...=30&SKU=BR7303). As it turns out, the bolts are interchangeable! After a little work disassembling the calipers, I'm left with a NUTTED R556 set and a recessed 800a set!

Awesome. I've mounted the Nutted R556's on my bike and they look great - definitely a nicer brake than the 800a's. Of course, if you're just looking for the cheapest possible solution, the 800a's might be sufficient by themselves. Anyway - just wanted to share my findings and hopefully save the next guy the hassle.

Thanks for the write up. I ran into this problem myself, as i just ordered a brake kit from bike island without considering the fit.

I am too short on reach, and mounting is not going to happen. I will have to order that first set you mentioned and see if I like them all right.

Fortunately the brakes that dont fit my conversion, do fit my other bike.

I've run into a problem with the reach of the bolt not passing through the fork all the way on the r556 caliper. are you saying that you can swap out the bolt in favor of a longer one on the brake itself?

EXACTLY. You buy the Tektro 800a JUST for the long bolts and regular nuts. Then you disassemble the R556's and remove the short bolts/recessed nuts. You REPLACE them with the bolts from the Tektro 800a's. This leaves you with a really nice set of brakes (R556) with bolts long enough to reach through older frames and use regular nuts.

Essentially, you're paying $18 for longer bolts, but that was fine by me. (Of course, you can also swap the recessed nuts/short bolts onto the 800a set and end up with a recessed set of 800a's, which is what I did... although I don't have a use for them (yet)).

Originally, I didn't understand why I just couldn't use *any* bolt as a replacement. I didn't realize until I took apart the caliper that it has step threading - one set of threads holds the first-pivot caliper to the mount (secured by a recessed allen screw) and the second set of threads allows the nut to thread on.

So I was a little confused on the last bit you just posted up. Is it not possible to buy the R556 brakes and just use the longer bolt from my older brake set, seeing as it's already cut to the proper lenght for my frame? And if the answer's no, is there any way to simply buy that bolt somewhere where I am not spending 18 bucks on it and ending up with a set of brakes I'll probably never use?

...Thanks for the post up by the way, I'm doing my first single speed conversion from an old schwinn worldsport frame I have and this problem didn't even occur to me untill I caught your thread. Thanks for the heads up.

I've searched the world over for those dang bolts and haven't found them yet. I bought a pair of the Tektros(actually Rivendell's version called Silver) and the rear brake bolt just isn't long enough and I didn't want to drill the fork for the recessed nut.

Another option is to simply buy two front Tektro R556s.

Here's what NOT to do for your rear brake:

bike is presently sitting at the LBS to get this brake bolt fixed; one of the mechanics is a long time pack rat and probably has some bolts that may work. We'll see when he gets back from vacation.

Note the 27" rims; the long reach brakes were still necessary on this old Raleigh Sprite.

thanks so much for your help! this is exactly the information i have been looking for!

Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just drill the fork to take a recessed nut? You can use the longer front axle on the rear, and the rear brake on the front with a longer recessed nut.

I posted the following in another thread ("brake mounting bolt not long enough?") 11 days ago -

Dammit man, where were you like 2 weeks ago when I faced this problem.

I ended up drilling out my steel frame with a 5/16 bit. It hurt to do as I didn't lube the bit, and it bit into the steel pretty nastily.

Anyway, it ended up working, but now the reach really isn't as long as advertised and doesn't seem to be doing the best job in the world. I'll post pics.

FWIW, I have Tektro R538 Long Reach (or so they told me).

Edited to add: that's my thread mentioned above.

PS is that a Peugot?

malpag, there's long reach, and then there's extra long reach.
tektro r538 - brake reach 47-57mm (long compared to short reach, but pretty standard. similar to older shimano 600)
tektro r556 - brake reach 55-73mm (wow that's long)

Buyer beware, and google does help.

Dammit all! The folks I ordered it from just had this listed... "TEKTROR538 DUAL PVT CAIPR SLVR QR LONG REACH"

not the most helpful, eh?

That's what this part of my post was intended to address:
"Originally, I didn't understand why I just couldn't use *any* bolt as a replacement. I didn't realize until I took apart the caliper that it has step threading - one set of threads holds the first-pivot caliper to the mount (secured by a recessed allen screw) and the second set of threads allows the nut to thread on."

They are special bolts with two different sets of threads. The whole point of buying the 800a's is just to get the bolts, so if you can find them somewhere else then for all means go for it. BUT - this type of bolt is specific to dual-pivot caliper designs. So, your old brakes would need to be dual pivot AND use the proper threading (in order for you to be able to swap in your old bolts).

"So let's basically go to a world of trouble because we were too lazy to drill out the back of the fork" thread. Excellent.

I would have, or my wrist would have, liked to avoid that whole drilling through steel episode of a few weeks ago.

indeed it is. my dad's old ride (with some modifications :-) )

px-10?

nope. no nervex, no chroming of the rear triangle, no simplex dropouts.

uo-8. heaaavy.

awesome.

was there something special that i'm missing needed in order to swap the bolts from the two calipers? i just got my 800a's in and was trying to take the bolt out, but i'm not having much luck. any tricks/tips would be great, thanks

Did you remove the allen set screw? There is a small (2mm, i think) allen screw on the underside of the caliper. This screw comes into contact with the main bolt to hold it in position. It functions to control the spacing between the two arms of the caliper, so they don't rub together when the brake is functioning. You must remove this bolt first.

If you've already tried to remove the main bolt, you probably slightly damaged the threads on the main bolt. So once you remove the allen set screw (and the spring!) you'll have to put some force on the main bolt to get it out.

Let me know if that isn't clear and I can take a pic of my 800a's when I get home.

thanks, that was the clue i needed, it all worked out great!

thanks for all this info... I am over on the C&V classic and vintage site and I am doing a conversion of a road bike and this is the information I am needing ... I just ordered the 800A's today, but it looks like the cheap fix isn't so cheap after all.... oh well..... at least I know what the fis is.

Or drill the fork and buy two front brake calipers. It's not like drilling the fork is a decision you will ever regret.