The original hoods for these are now collectors items and either difficult to find and/or very expensive if you find them. The ones on this bike were complete toast from weathering, but the cable adjuster inserts, a nice feature still today—especially for centerpull or cantilever brakes—were good. I was able to fit a more modern conventional brake hood on the lever. To take up the gap around the adjuster, I took a wine cork, drilled it out, cut it lengthwise into two pieces and then sanded one end of each piece into a conical shape. I then used these as insert supports around the cable adjusters, filling in the space under the top of the hood. A good workaround if you can't find the original hoods for these MAFAC levers.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Vintage MAFAC brake lever hack
Lately I've been working on (for some unexplainable reason) an ancient, precambrian Peugeot bike, a 70s "Record du Monde". Despite the name, this was a fairly low end production bike commonly sold in the US. These bikes are the antithesis of a lightweight race bike, what record they hold, besides weight, I'm not sure. They could be more aptly named "Record du Stovepipe". One redeeming feature on these however are the venerable MAFAC Racer centerpull brakes and original MAFAC levers. The levers have an older style demi rubber hood that just covers the top portion of where you rest your hand. Similar to this lever below.
The original hoods for these are now collectors items and either difficult to find and/or very expensive if you find them. The ones on this bike were complete toast from weathering, but the cable adjuster inserts, a nice feature still today—especially for centerpull or cantilever brakes—were good. I was able to fit a more modern conventional brake hood on the lever. To take up the gap around the adjuster, I took a wine cork, drilled it out, cut it lengthwise into two pieces and then sanded one end of each piece into a conical shape. I then used these as insert supports around the cable adjusters, filling in the space under the top of the hood. A good workaround if you can't find the original hoods for these MAFAC levers.
The original hoods for these are now collectors items and either difficult to find and/or very expensive if you find them. The ones on this bike were complete toast from weathering, but the cable adjuster inserts, a nice feature still today—especially for centerpull or cantilever brakes—were good. I was able to fit a more modern conventional brake hood on the lever. To take up the gap around the adjuster, I took a wine cork, drilled it out, cut it lengthwise into two pieces and then sanded one end of each piece into a conical shape. I then used these as insert supports around the cable adjusters, filling in the space under the top of the hood. A good workaround if you can't find the original hoods for these MAFAC levers.
