Dawes Stirling brake question.

[Bobby Maclean]

] So I picked this frame up recently,lovely looking paint job, done by Bob Jackson.
There are some sticky out bars that I’m assuming are for the brakes. What would be a good type to look out for to suit this lovely frame. They kind of remind me of mountain bike brake holders, is that what I need to get hold of?

 

[I like Skol]

Looks like it is built for cantis' (cantilever) brakes, but you might also be able to fit MTB V-brakes if you can get brake levers to match the cable pull ratio.

 

[Spiderweb]

Some silver coloured cantilever brakes.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-al...MIh7K-8fb54QIVRluGCh0ntQm2EAQYAiABEgJlJPD_BwE

 

[Bobby Maclean]

Great stuff, thanks for the advice. The cables and levers are there so I will keep it simple and go the silver cantilever I reckon.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Shimano Altus were often fitted to the better quality hybrids and MTB's - generally those with frames made of at least 501 or similar cro-moly. I much prefer their appearance to the black resin jobs, and possibly they feel nicer in use too, although that might be wishful thinking based on them being more expensive, therefore "better"!

 

[Cycleops]

I don't know why cantis are degenerated on forums I've always found them to be pretty sharp.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I don't know why cantis are degenerated on forums I've always found them to be pretty sharp.

Nor to I. All mine work well enough. Sometimes a bit too well in fact, like a couple of weeks ago when I managed to unintentionally get the rear wheel off the ground due to some clumsy use of the front brake. And that was on a Raleigh Pioneer, which has a fairly long wheelbase, and being flat-bar, quite a lot of the weight distribution on the rear wheel. Not a shorty drop-bar racer with the rider leaning forward over the front wheel. Cantis have got enough stopping power to put you over the handlebars if you use them in a sufficiently ham-fisted manner - so how much stopping power to some people want?? I reckon the people who constantly complain about rim brakes must be weak or something, just like drivers who moan about the clutch pedal on their car being too heavy. Come to think of it I've gone right over the bars more than once on a side-pull braked bike fitted with steel rims as a youngster, yet if you read what some people say about steel wheels and side-pulls on cycling forums you wouldn't think you'd even be able to stop at all!

 

[mcshroom]

They are usually good enough in clean, dry conditions but less in the wet. I like canti brakes as a design and still have some on the rear of my touring bike. However they don't have the power of v-brakes, especially on a loaded tourer in the rain, and the other problem inherent in the design is the propensity to judder as a front brake. I went through three different types of canti trying to solve that and finally cured it by fitting an rx-5 mini-v on the front.