Hey everybody, I have another silly n00b question for you.

What is the standard length for the mounting bolt on a brake caliper? Basically, I want to mount a brake on my Fuji track bike (for those that saw my other thread, I'm buying the parts for my double lever/single brake setup; my LBS laughed and then said they will do it), and I need to know if this (linked below) is the right brake to buy.

https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SHIMANO-105-...QQcmdZViewItem (url fixed)


Thanks for all your help, everyone. Also, any Boston kids go on weekly night rides? I need to get out and meet some people. Thanks again!

No. You need a U brake...like I said in your other thread.

Is that because this brake won't fit my bike, or because this brake won't fit my project? The LBS told me they can do what I described with a Shimano 105. There has been a lot of back and forth in my last thread (and in the copy in Bike Mechanics) where some say I'll need special stuff and others say I can just use cross levers with a primary/secondary setup. The latter is what I described to the LBS, to which they responded, "Yeah, that will be funny. OK, we can do this."

The brake won't work for the project. You want a U brake because both sides are symmetrical. With a side-pull brake (the one in your link above), everything is...well...on the side.

I don't see how that would affect anything... the brake is still actuated by the pulling of cable, right? And the two-lever set-up ends up pulling on one cable. I think the standard caliper brake would work.

I think you mean "centrepull" not "U-brake".

No. I mean U-Brake.

Not really.

You guys made me bust out the Visio.



Sorry, I used the wrong jpg of the brake before.

Disclaimer: This is obviously using these parts in a manner for which they were not designed. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

that won't work:

1. he doesn't have U-brake bosses
2. that would require brake levers that could pivot in two directions: both towards and away from the bar.

I still don't see why this kid doesn't want to run two brakes.

1:
2: I've seen this work on BMX bikes.
3: The levers work normally. The spring in the brake arms keeps the tension.

Sorry, I used the wrong brake image. It's been updated now.

Ok, Maybe i'm not seeing this right, but aren't you effectively just connecting one brake lever to the other?
And since brake levers only pivot in one direction you won't be able to squeeze either of them.

Just use a primo pervert. All you do is run a cable from each lever into the pervert then one cable out of the pervert into the brake. This is how 90% of all flatland bikes are done. When I rode flatland and worked @ a bmx shop we did this all the time. It will work on both ubrakes and road style brakes. You can buy a pervert from www.danscomp.com they are $9.99. The problem with running two cables right into a brake from two different levers (like carleton said) is you do not get a full "pull" from one lever it is more like 60%.

It's for a Fuji track bike. Fixed. I realize that 2 brakes are always safer than one, but I'm moving from 0 to 1 right now. Additionally, the frame doesn't have cable guides for a rear brake, and I don't want to zip-tie or bracket the cables onto the top tube.

If this is the case (60% pull), that might actually be better if it meant I would get 100% (obviously more by straight math, but hopefully the additional pressure isn't enough to break the setup) by pulling both levers. As I said, I'm already riding brakeless, but I've grown up enough to realize that I need to ride with a brake. So, if it would just brake softly and let me do most of the braking with my legs until I was in an OH ***** situation and pulled both levers, that would be fine.

Still, people in Bike Mechanics still maintain that I can do this no problem with cross levers, which was my original idea.

Also, I think it's been mentioned already, won't the bar in the middle of the Primo Pervert just pivot when I pull the lever, because this is the reverse of how it was intended to work?

Well....... yes and no, when you pull the lever is the pervert going to move unevenly? yes. Should you care? no because the lever you are using is the only one that matters at that time. You only have to move one cable to make the brake work the other cable is not in use at that time. All the ways to make this work are mush harder to setup then a single lever/brake system but it can be done with little to no brake power lose. I have seen a few ways to run two levers into one brake and imo this by far the best one.
Also I think you are making it hard on ourself by using cross levers, bmx levers or something with some adjustment at the lever would make it a litle easyer to dail in.