Stopping For Awhile

No, I am not stopping my blog, I am talking about stopping my tandem. The blog has been in low gear as we were off 1200 miles away on vacation. But now we are back and there are big improvements in store for the old tandem.

I have plenty of hardware to choose from as I seek to enhance its braking performance.

A few months ago I changed to 650B tires, which meant new rims, moving brake levers down on the fork and stays, etc. You can read about it here. Now I'm taking those brakes off again! And it's kind of a drag considering my luggage racks interfere with everything related to the brakes... and the bike is so long it tips my work stand over.

Here's the new setup:

These are called "Big Squeeze Brakes" and come from RE Cycles in Seattle. Because the arms are adjustable, and the pull comes from the bottom, they provide some mechanical advantages over the Mafacs that I've been using. The pads also have less compressibility and a better compound.

So I'm taking my brakes off again.

Here's what the back seat stays look like without old OR new brakes in place. Sadly, I found there are some slight dimensional variations in the new brakes and my cantilever pivots - and they don't fit.

But they won't go to waste because I think I will put the half-set of Big Squeeze brakes on the front of my single instead. Each bike's old Mafac brakes can do their normal, minimal work on the back. Here's the rear with old brakes back where they belong.

Front right, showing levers and finned pads. Don't worry, the pads don't hit those fat tire sidewalls.

Rear, showing the same components.

Close-up view of the front pads.

Close-up view of the back pads.

OK, ok - maybe I will clean up those brake arms ... (they are aluminum and brass - how can they rust?)