RE: [CR] Paramount Touring Bikes -- Drop bolts?

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

From: "Mark Bulgier" <mark@bulgier.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: RE: [CR] Paramount Touring Bikes -- Drop bolts?
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 21:28:09 -0800


Thomas R. Adams, Jr. wrote:
>
> Hard to believe, but true. My '74 Paramount has the looong
> reach Weinman in the back, and still won't reach a 700c rim
> even with the pads bottomed out, forcing the use of a 27 inch
> rim. I guess someone at the design table said "let there be
> fender clearance." A Campy caliper, even with a drop bolt,
> misses the rim by a bunch.

It's not too hard to mount a Campy or other shorter brake when the bridge is way too high: Use two steel plates, in front and in back of the bridge, bolted with another 6mm bolt that goes where the brake bolt went. Then the brake bolts to a lower set of holes in the plates completely below the bridge. (For the plates, imagine bike chain side plates, only bigger.) You need a spacer or bushing that goes between the two plates where the brake bolts on, whose length equals the thickness of the bridge, so the plates remain parallel.

Note this only works on bikes where the bridge is a LOT too high, as it lowers the brake by a minimum of about twice as much as a Campy drop bolt. (You choose the spacing to drill the holes thru the plates, but it has to be enough let the brake bolt pass completely under the bridge.) Use a drop bolt if it'll reach; that's 6mm for Campy, more than that for some later third-party drop bolts. Use the two-plate method if you need 12mm or more.

Stainless steel is the bitchinest thing to use for the plates, if you know how to cut and drill it. (Some SS is hard to work with, though not all.) Regular mild steel from the hardware store will work but will rust if you don't paint or plate it. Aluminum, if thick enough to be strong enough, will require a front brake centerbolt, but that can be an OK solution.

Mark Bulgier
Seattle, Wa
USA