What type of brake is this?

Question

Update -

As Daniel pointed out in the comments below, this is an unusual type of roller cam brake that is fixed to the fork using a single bolt through the fork rather than cantilever fixings

I have found two examples of roller cam brakes that uses a single bolt - Odyssey Bulldog and Dia Compe Big Dog - but both seem to have been discontinued for a long time

I will leave this question as unanswered a little longer in case anyone know of other brands that make these brakes that are currently available

I have a long reach brake that I've put on a refurbished old Chinese bike, it looks fantastic and it's a perfect fit for the old fork and new 700c wheel combo that needs about 95 mm reach

I am looking to refurbish another old bike, but I can't seem to find this type of brake anywhere. The one that I have came from the Taiwanese stockist Ducas (www.ducas-bike.com), but they no longer have it in stock and they have not been able to help me find one somewhere else

Any help identifying this type of brake or a good long reach alternative (I need at least 95 mm) would be much appreciated

Batman · Accepted Answer

As stated by Daniel R Hicks, these are roller cam brakes.

Sheldon Brown sells a few extra long reach brakes: the Odyssey 1999 Extra Long Reach Caliper Brake and the Action© Extra Long Reach Caliper Brake. Tektro C-326 seems to have adequate reach, but the problem is since its designed for beach cruisers, the rims have to be quite wide. I don't know if the other brakes listed have this problem.

A relatively easy solution is a drop bolt, which is a device which allows you to mount a brake lower than the frame is designed to. You can make a drop bolt and use a regular reach brake instead of hunting down a 100 mm reach brake. These are reasonably common with the Raleigh Twenty crowd, for example. In the picture below from Sheldon Brown, he has a Raleigh Twenty with a short reach caliper!

(Image from Sheldon Brown)

Note that this is a hack, so its YMMV/at your own risk.

A real drop bolt looks like this:

ChrisL · Answer

If it's an older bike then a pair of center pulls would be quite appropriate. Weinmann made some long reach center pulls in the past that could be picked up on eBay for not much. I think the model 890 and 999 had the longest reach but I can't remember exactly how long it was. Dia Compe still offer a long reach center pull though I'm not sure they reach quite that long. 95mm is quite a stretch, expect to have a lot of brake flex.

Answered by ChrisL on March 7, 2021

What type of brake is this?

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