Weinmann Brakes

[onb]

Had my 1st ride (4 miles ) on my Raleigh Pursuit the braking was to put it bluntly frightening, so am contemplating some Dia Compe as only they have a long enough reach (65 ml) unless anyone knows better .I really wanted to keep the Weinmanns but I value life and limb .

 

[Spiderweb]

I'm sure it would be worth changing brake pads, Koolstop salmon are well regarded, providing there is no fault with the actual brakes you should see a significant improvement in stopping power.

 

[yellow belly]

Old brakes are old brakes. Got super record on my Paletti but need to think about braking and use my brain more than when using modern Ultegras. Just learn to ride with them and think ahead.

 

[midlife]

Are the rims steel?

Shaun

 

[onb]

Thanks for the replies ,the rims are open sport and I have upgraded the pads to a set of moderns brake pads .I can the the calipers flexing under braking..

 

[midlife]

How about some dual pivots? Tektro do some long drop jobbies.

Shaun

 

[raleighnut]

Thanks for the replies ,the rims are open sport and I have upgraded the pads to a set of moderns brake pads .I can the the calipers flexing under braking..

The pads are too hard, either use Coolstop Salmons or Clarks. Also be aware that those brakes will not work with your hand on the 'hoods' and 2 fingers on the brake lever.
Also you say it was your first ride, had you set up the pads correctly or are they only making partial contact with the rim (until they 'wear in')

 

[biggs682]

The joys of riding a retro bike

when set up and using good quality pads they should offer reasonable stopping power

 

[mikeymustard]

Had my 1st ride (4 miles ) on my Raleigh Pursuit the braking was to put it bluntly frightening, so am contemplating some Dia Compe as only they have a long enough reach (65 ml) unless anyone knows better .I really wanted to keep the Weinmanns but I value life and limb .

Why is the drop so big, have you changed to 700c? As a - ahem - larger gentleman, I like to put dual pivot brakes on if I know I'm going to be riding the bike myself much. When I needed a longer drop I used these:

they're a nutted design rather than recessed.
Obviously the longer the drop, the more the arms are going to flex, and I was quite worried that for the price they might be shoit, but I've got these on the rear of a bike which has normal drop RSX dual on the front and there's no discernible difference.
Oh and I changed the pads for Clarks 3 colour pads

 

[Illaveago]

I was thinking about the stopping power of the old Weinmann brakes and remembered how I damaged the rear wheel on my Holdsworth. It was back in the 70's and I was chasing a mate to work, he was in a car ahead of me when he braked hard. There was no other option than to grab a handful of brakes, the front wheel locked and I went over the handlebars, the rear wheel slamming into the road buckling it.
The brakes were Weinmann centre pulls with pink ish brake blocks on ally rims and seem to had enough stopping power in their day.

 

[sidevalve]

When well set up weinmann are good brakes. Either you have contaminated blocks / rims or something seriously wrong with the levers /cables / callipers or the callipers may not be fixed on their pivot-s properly. Unless as above you have the blocks only partially touching the rims.

 

[tyred]

They should be more than powerful enough if set up correctly with decent pads They will however need more hand pressure than modern brakes so anyone with small hands might find a problem.

It's worth stripping them down, cleaning and putting a smear of light grease or oil on the pivot and also the important but over-looked bit, clean the spring and the part it slides on on the calliper arms and apply a drop of light oil. If you have problems with any single pivot brake that won't stay centred, this often fixes it. Make sure cables are in good condition and oil the pivots on the brake levers.

 

[Spokesmann]

With the right brake set up/adjustments and modern blocks, they're still good stoppers. Sadly the best braking is on alloys rims, I still have a few bikes on steel rims and the braking is acceptable in the dry, never in the wet though...