# Centre Pull Brake



## KneesUp (16 Jan 2017)

I'm after a centre pull brake for fitting to a mixte frame as shown by the ever useful Sheldon Brown




I could get a new one but it's an old bike, so a nice patina would fit 

Cheers


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jan 2017)

I think I have some Weinmann centre pulls at the back of my garage. If no one else has replied by the time I feel up for an expedition to this dangerous and inaccessible place I'll have a look.


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## KneesUp (16 Jan 2017)

Dogtrousers said:


> I think I have some Weinmann centre pulls at the back of my garage. If no one else has replied by the time I feel up for an expedition to this dangerous and inaccessible place I'll have a look.


Cheers!


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jan 2017)

Here they are. They are filthy and they come as a pair, even if you only want one! Yours for free. PM me with details.
You'll need a special long yoke cable for your purposes.


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## KneesUp (16 Jan 2017)

They look perfect! Thank you - off to find laptop power cable and will PM


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jan 2017)

All sorted. Will post tomorrow. By the way here's a picture of a Mixte I did a bit of a clean up/restoration on year before last. The yoke cable on the rear brake has to be extra long to wrap around the seatpost.


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## robgul (17 Jan 2017)

The long-yoke cables are a bit like rocking horse droppings - with a bit of ingenuity you can make one with a MTB brake cable and the cable clamp bolt (with a hole through it) off a side-pull brake.

Rob


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## Dogtrousers (17 Jan 2017)

I thought you might like to know the history of these brakes. In about 1977 or so I got my first "racer". This was an old beaten up bike which, although I didn't realise it at the time, had good quality 1960s parts: Suntour Skitter RD (which I wrecked) and Benelux FD (which I still have, somewhere). This evolved, via a change of frame, into my workhorse (ie only) bike that I used for commuting, touring, and general riding through to the 1990s. From then it sat around gathering dust in various storage places until a couple of years ago when I broke it up. (It was rebuilt into a SS bike by @biggs682 )

So they date back to at least the mid 70s, probably before.

I'm sorry they're in such a filthy condition. The dirt is partly from the fact that I didn't clean that bike very often, but mainly an accumulation of fluff and muck from being in storage for so long. I think I may have squirted them with oil when I put it away to protect them, so grime has stuck to them.

I'm really happy that at least one of these brakes is going have its useful life extended.

I may have one or two of the little clampy doodads that connect the brake cable to the yoke cable somewhere. But maybe not.


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## KneesUp (17 Jan 2017)

Thank you for the history - as you may have guessed, the brakes are to go on the Misty I'm doing up. I was going to file a bit out of the front brake to drop the block a little, but I have a brake cable hanger-thing in the parts box I think, so if the headset will come apart I'll fit that and have matching brakes, keeping them together as a pair. 

(I'm pretty sure I've got some clampy doodads somewhere, so no worries if you can't find any!)


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## Tim Hall (17 Jan 2017)

KneesUp said:


> Thank you for the history - as you may have guessed, the brakes are to go on the Misty I'm doing up. I was going to file a bit out of the front brake to drop the block a little, but I have a brake cable hanger-thing in the parts box I think, so if the headset will come apart I'll fit that and have matching brakes, keeping them together as a pair.
> 
> (I'm pretty sure I've got some clampy doodads somewhere, so no worries if you can't find any!)


I stumbled across a headset brake hanger in my Box of Doom the other day, so if your doesn't show up, give me a shout.


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## KneesUp (18 Jan 2017)

robgul said:


> The long-yoke cables are a bit like rocking horse droppings - with a bit of ingenuity you can make one with a MTB brake cable and the cable clamp bolt (with a hole through it) off a side-pull brake.
> 
> Rob


I've had a bit of a look around for some NOS cables, and I think I'm going with your solution


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## KneesUp (18 Jan 2017)

Tim Hall said:


> I stumbled across a headset brake hanger in my Box of Doom the other day, so if your doesn't show up, give me a shout.


Thank you very much - I haven't looked in my upstairs box of doom yet -but then I've not seen if I can get the headset apart yet! It looks clean so fingers crossed the stem comes out ...


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## Nibor (18 Jan 2017)

robgul said:


> The long-yoke cables are a bit like rocking horse droppings - with a bit of ingenuity you can make one with a MTB brake cable and the cable clamp bolt (with a hole through it) off a side-pull brake.
> 
> Rob


A knarp is useful in these cases


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## KneesUp (18 Jan 2017)

I cycled past my lbs on the way home, so I thought I might as well ask in case they had any tucked away. No joy. I'll lash something together I'm sure


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## KneesUp (19 Jan 2017)

Thanks @Dogtrousers. Look what the postman brought


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## Dogtrousers (19 Jan 2017)

Oh yes I'd forgotten one was missing a bolt ... It was Invisible under all the muck


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## KneesUp (19 Jan 2017)

But the beauty is that after over 40 years they still work perfectly


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## KneesUp (19 Jan 2017)

Having looked them up, ytey are third generation Vainqueurs, dating them to 1962 to 1964, so make that over 50 years.

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=22057E59-7080-441A-B38E-2B16106EE8C0&Enum=117&AbsPos=2


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