The Dia Compe brakes looked just like the Weinmanns, but the arms were very flexy. At one point, the Weinmanns also received a pin and groove feature that caused the arms to pull into the rims more evenly. There was also a difference in the geometry of the levers, at least when used on Schwinns. The result was that Dia Compe centerpulls required closer adjustment to the rims, or the levers would bottom out in hard braking. This was not an issue with the Weinmann centerpulls. If the rider let the wheels go out of true, or the brakes loosen up, a potentially dangerous lack of braking could result. This was aggravated further by the extension levers used on most drop bar models. I did not notice any significant difference in the brake pad performance, though the Weinmann big block brakepads were always my favorites for centerpulls.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont ----- Original Message ----- From: RaleighPro531@aol.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Cc: Steve@sburl.com Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 1:51 PM Subject: Weinmann vs Dia-Compe - was : P13 Paramount
In a message dated 7/28/2002 1:08:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Steve@sburl.com writes:
Also, parts from different manufacturers sometimes had different part numbers and often performed differently. For example, the centerpulls from Weinmann performed much better than the ones from Dia Compe, even though two otherwise identical bikes might come with either. The centerpull equipped Paramounts always came with Weinmann, which led me to believe that Schwinn recognized the difference, even if they would not admit to it.
To what do you attribute this to? They seem to be identical though the brake pads were probably different and caused the difference in performance.
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, PA