I've used them to switch between 650b and 26" wheels on the same bike - performance is grand either way. (The rim widths on my 650bs differ from the 26"s, complicating mechanical advantage comparisons - would be interesting to see how they get on with only a vertical adjustment of the pads. But oodles of power in either case.) Am guessing that the excellent performance is partly down to the beefy cylindrical arms' resistance to the rotational flex that can splay pads away from rims.
On Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 7:03:06 AM UTC-4 divis...@gmail.com wrote: > The bike in the photo is now disassembled, with the caliper adjuster > transferred to the bigger Hoodoo. I'll try to get a higher-rez photo > tomorrow and post it up. > > I'd never heard of the widget either, until I embarked on the > wheel-embiggening project somewhere around 2010. I figured that since I > never ride offroad, a bigger wheel gets me a little farther for each > rotation. In part, it was a quest for smoother tires; it's possible that > had Compass been in business selling slick 26" tires back then, I might > never have tried to go to 700c. > > Fortunately for me, VooDoos were designed by Joe Murray, who also designed > the early Konas. His design style happens to include brake bridges on canti > frames placed pretty high, which gives you a lot of space for bigger wheels > (I was running mostly 700c 33mm, and I still had space to go bigger). The > only problem was the placement of the canti bosses, which is inherent in > any canti 26" frame. > > > https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/mavic-2013-brake-caliper-adjusters/rp-prod33432 > > [image: iu.jpeg] > > An extended googling revealed the existence of the Mavic caliper adjuster, > which I'd just seen in a closed auction on eBay. It appeared on Mavic's > site for nearly a decade. I then started going into every dealer in San > Francisco's East Bay, asking for one. Every single dealer looked at me as > if I was crazy ("I've never heard of such a thing; Mavic doesn't make them. > Why would you even want something as stupid as that?"). I'd explain my > project; they'd pull out the Mavic catalog, find the item and be > dumbfounded ("well, I'll be damned..."). > > After over a year's searching, I walked into the sixteenth Mavic dealer - > Montano Velo in North Oakland, then the home of the locally famous > Broakland fixed-gear. I delivered my usual speech in a tone of despair and > resignation (*do you have a Mavic caliper adjuster - it's a kind of canti > brake booster with additional pivot posts*), expecting the usual answer > (see above). Instead, the young'un behind the counter said: > > "What, you mean like *these*?" > > He then reached under the counter and pulled out a cardboard box with > *six* of the things. I immediately paid him $25 for one; he told me that > they'd been there for at least three years, and that I was the first person > to even ask for one, forget buy one. > > They are a niche part for a niche purpose, but they perform their niche > task really well, at least in the rear. I'd be a little more nervous about > relying on one for a front brake - the caliper does flex, and it might be > unnerving to see on the front end. If you're committed to the 26"-to-700c > idea, I think it makes more sense to mount a rigid cyclocross fork or > sprung 29er fork in place of the 26" one. > > Peter Adler > Berkeley, CA/USA > > On Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 3:24:03 AM UTC-7 Steven Sweedler wrote: > >> Peter, do you have a close up of the Mavic caliper adjuster, never >> heard/seen of them before. Thanks, Steve >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f434423a-56b1-4a9c-98c7-65ac0a10beb4n%40googlegroups.com.
