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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

Long reach brake

Long reach brake 2

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  • I think I'm confused. How can you communicate with Ducas what brake you want if you don't know what it is? And since they know what it is, can't they tell you?
    – andy256
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 3:47
  • I bought it from them when they had it in stock, but now they are out of stock. They can order it again, but min order quantity is 50 pcs, which they don't want to do
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 3:56
  • Only name they have for it is 'long reach brake'
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 3:56
  • I'm pretty sure that U brakes will fit it (like albes.com/diatechombreubrakes996.aspx) thou I'm not sure about it's reach length.
    – Alexander
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 6:44
  • 1
    That's a variation on the roller cam brake.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 11:33

2 Answers 2

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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!

enter image description here

(Image from Sheldon Brown)

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

A real drop bolt looks like this: enter image description here

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  • Thanks Batman. I would love to get my hands on another roller cam brake for the next bike I'm about to rebuild, but I think I'm going to have to give up on finding one. Many thanks also for pointing out some alternatives beyond long reach caliper brakes
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 9, 2015 at 0:50
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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.

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