After a few days haunting eBay trying to find some spare stoppers for my flotilla, I was struck by how hard it is to find long reach nutted brakes and how many bikes I have that take them. Lets see: PX 10, Marinnoni, Raleigh Pro, Raleigh International, Trek 710, Cirrus 7 (rear only, replacement fork issues that I'm working on), 5.5 out of 8 bikes in the garage take long reach nutters, three of them originally with center pulls. So that makes my vintage brake nut factor 68.75 percent. I'm curious how the number runs for the group. Anyone with a higher percentage? No wonder I'm always scrounging for spare parts. And in this rainy season, why haven't I got a set of fenders on ONE of them?
Is there any practical reason why short reach-recessed rules the world? The effects I know of are negative: no room for fenders and it's harder to mount a rear rack. Is there that much weight savings, or is there a functional difference? Or is it just style because short recessed is the "racer's edge"?
Tom Adams, watching a set of Weinmanns in Kansas City