Mafac LS, LS 2 and LSX Brake Pad Replacement Part 2

Once the restoration of my 1973 Carre/Bertin C 37 was finished, it only took until the first ride to discover that the stock OEM Mafac pads were hard, high effort and unsatisfactory, especially compared to my 1960s C 37 equipped with Mafac Competition centerpulls with aftermarket black, Kool Stop pads. The search was on to try and find some kind of workable replacement.

Mafac Pad Front View

The Mafac LS series shoes are angled to create toe-in when the shoe is mounted on the LS caliper arm. In addition, they have a nut inside the OEM alloy brake shoe to accept the brake shoe attachment bolt which means a replacement pad has to have a notched or relieved center section to fit. See the accompanying photo on the right of the screen to view both of these features. Also problematic are the tight tolerances in the brake shoes and pads themselves. Having measured pads around the workshop like generics as well as Weinmanns, I could not find an exact dimensional match to the Mafac LS pads. Consequently, I decided to take the easy way out and simply replace the whole shoe/pad assembly.

The easy way was not easy. I ordered, on line, an inexpensive set

Mafac Pad Side View

of YST shoes with chevron shaped braking surfaces to echo the Mafac pad shape. Once they arrived, the steel brake shoes looked comparatively poorly finished and once installed they did not toe in well or look the part of a high end brake as one might expect with such an inexpensive product. However, the pad rubber was soft and once sanded clean of mold flash, the shoes did stop the bike better than the 40 year old OEM Mafac pads. Brake feel and modulation was not great but the bike would stop and did so with less lever effort than the original pads. Faint praise.

YST Pads On Jagwire Bag

Part 2 of the easy way was to order another shoe/pad combination set but this time from Jagwire in the Weinmann X pattern pad configuration. A big name in brake components should yield big results. Not so much. The Jagwires were better finished and cleaned up the mold lines with relatively little sanding. However, even with the LS caliper arms designed in toe, the Jagwires were still nearly parallel to the rims’ braking surfaces. The stopping was adequate, better than the OEM but not enough and they didn’t look right as mounted.

Part 3 of the easy way was an attempt to open up the Jagwire pads and extract one to test fit in a Mafac alloy shoe. The steel shoe on the Jagwires was reluctant to open which basically meant destroying the shoe to get the rubber brake pad out only to find the pad dimensions wrong for the Mafac shoe. At that point, I determined to find a pad that would fit the OEM Mafac shoe.

I searched through the technical specs for pads on the Kool Stop site but found nothing that looked close enough. While searching on the EBay USA site for Kool Stop, I came across a Scott/Mathauser ad offering Type M pads specifically for Mafac and and early Dura Ace. They could not have been for regular 4 dot Mafac centerpull brake shoes because the photos of the package clearly showed a Campyesque pad that looked quite different from the usual 4 dot Mafac pads found on Racers, Competitions and 2000s. So, I ordered a set which were quickly delivered from Ebay by Canada Post. When I opened the package, the Scott/Mathausers had a superficial look of compatibility with the Mafac LS OEM pads. Like I did with the Mafacs, I measured the Scott/Mathauser pads with my digital calipers.  I found the measurements to be slightly larger but within .5 to 1 mm of the Mafacs’ measurements. The one exception was the relief area on the top of the pad which in the Scott/Matthauser pad was 15 mm long compared to the 12 mm for the Mafac.

While I waited for the Scott/Mathauser pads to arrive by mail, I had been cleaning the Mafac shoes and removing the original pads. Removing the pads entailed levering them up at the end with a straight bladed screw driver followed by using pliers to wrench the pads the rest of the way out of the shoe. The shoes were wiped down and then run through an ultrasonic cleaner with some dish soap. The result was as set of clean shoes ready for the installation of the new pads. When the pads showed up, I checked the details on the reverse side of the plastic pack before attempting a trial fit or the installation.

Once the shoes were cleaned and ready, I attempted a trial fit of the Scott/Mathausers in the Mafac LS shoes. Even with the use of dilute dish soap as a lubricant, the pads did not fit into the shoes since the angle of entry of the pad was too extreme, the pad edge hung up on the round nut within the shoe and the pad would not settle under the rear stop at the back of the shoe.

The failure of the easy fit lead me to a few conclusions: that the .5 to 1 mm oversize difference of the Scott/Mathauser pads made a difference and you might want to do a little file work on the pads; the forward edges of the new pads need to be angled or rounded off to fit over the embedded nut within the shoe and finally, the rear tab of the brake shoe must be broken off to fit the new pad.

To get the pad rounded off like the center pad in the photo to the right, use a file or 120 Grit sandpaper as seen in the photo. It is also necessary to remove the rear retention tab of the alloy Mafac brake shoes. I tried a hacksaw but the result was poor and recommend bending the tab upwards with pliers until it yields and then snaps off. Once the retention tab has snapped off, put the shoe in a bench vice with padded jaws to avoid damaging the finish and take a fine file and dress the broken end thoroughly being sure it is de-burred and smooth to avoid fouling during the pad installation.

Be sure to carefully identify which end you will remove as the shoes are directional and the forward facing arrow must go to the front with a closed end but also to permit proper toe-in in combination with the LS caliper arm design. Once the shoes have been correctly opened and cleaned up, prepare a soap and water solution to act as a lubricant when installing the new pad into the Mafac alloy shoe.

Once you have lubed the inside of the alloy shoe, add the soapy mixture to the nose of the pad and to the crease along both sides. Slide the pad on an angle over the internal nut in the shoe until it is stopped by the front of the pad holder. It will now be sitting at an angle with the rear of the pad protruding from the  alloy shoe. Place the shoe/pad assembly into the padded vise jaws and slowly tighten down until the pad slips into place. (You may need to reverse the shoe in the vise to get the back section to fully seat.) Once the pad is seated, rinse the shoe to get rid of the soap solution from the installation and then follow the same procedure for the other three pad/shoe assemblies.

Having cleaned and dried  the assemblies, use your 120 Grit sand paper to abrade the braking surface of the Scott/Mathauser pads until the shiny surface is removed and the surface appears dulled to the eye.  Trial fit the retention screws and washers before doing an installation. The finished pad/shoe assembly should look like this:

 

The assemblies, once installed, should show an obvious toe-in when viewed from above. See the following photo:

 

 

Seen in profile, the installed assembly looks convincingly original and discreet except for that tell tale orange colour peeking through the brake shoes:

 

 

Conclusions:

The Scott/Mathauser M pad is the only one that I have found that installs properly in a Mafac LS, LS 2 or LSX alloy brake shoe. The fit is tight and installation could likely be eased by a slight filing along the edges of the pads in addition to the sanding described earlier. Toe-in is stock and so is the side profile appearance. Functionally, the pads are superb. There is no squeal, stopping remains higher effort than my Mafac centerpulls, as one would expect, modulation is easy and completely linear and progressive. Braking from the hoods is comfortably possible and is very strong from the drops. I highly recommend the conversion if you have Mafac sidepulls and wish to experience a major improvement in your braking quality.

Disclaimer:

The bike has not and will not be ridden in the wet so I cannot comment on that aspect of brake performance. Before the upgrade as well as after, the Carre/Bertin C 37 was fitted with Velo Orange lined cable housing and mandrel drawn stainless steel cables.

 

Mafac Spidel LS, LS 2 and LSX Brake Pad Replacement

The Mafac LS series of single pivot sidepull brakes was a response to the Campagnolo sidepull and its imitators which had become serious threats to Mafac’s acknowledged status as the premier bike stoppers available.  After the initial release of the Racer centerpull brake around 1950, Mafac had the dominant position in the later 50s and throughout the 1960s until Campagnolo released their Nuovo Record sidepull brakes around 1968. Much as Mafac had done through elite riders such as Jacques Anquetil and Tommy Simpson using their product in high level competition, Campagnolo’s extensive promotion of their expensive new sidepulls in competition by riders such as Eddy Merckx ensured that sidepulls, once again, returned to center stage as the fashionable style of stopper for riders of the pro peloton.

Mafac fought back, initially, with higher quality, better finished versions of the basic Racer design like the Competition and 2000. Even the use of those brakes at the highest levels, including Tour de France wins with Peugeot and Bernard Thevenet did not displace Campagnolo despite the Mafac’s superior stopping power. The only thing to do was compete directly and hence the design and marketing of the LS, the LS 2 and, ultimately, the LSX sidepull brake versions by Mafac/Spidel.

The LS version is easily identified by the black, highlighted Mafac name and LS model designation stamped into the brake arms and by the angular profile of the brake arms themselves. There are differences in cable fixing bolt design, brake arm contours,

Mafac LS

cable adjuster location and brake guide mounting on each of the three different versions.  The LS 2 is found marked either Mafac or as Spidel, the name of a short lived gruppo effort by French manufacturers to go head

Mafac LS 2

to head with Shimano, Campagnolo and Suntour. The back of the brake arm on the LS 2 usually has the LS 2 designation in raised letters. The LSX can also be found branded as either Mafac or Spidel with the lettering engraved into the front of the caliper arm. One important thing for the purposes of upgrading the LS series braking is that the shoe design is consistent throughout the production of the three related series of the LS design so that the process and shoe application discussed here are consistently applicable across the LS, LS 2 and LSX line of brake calipers. Equally important is that fact that the brake shoe and the brake arms are toed in by design from the factory. This means that the brake pads are designed to meet the rotating brake rim front first and gradually lay down against the rim as brake force is increased. This makes

Mafac LSX

the brakes easier to modulate and it also can assist in eliminating squealing. This feature is one of the reasons I have searched for a pad that will fit the OEM Mafac alloy shoes. One of the underlying assumptions here is that you have already upgraded your brake cables with lined housings and drawn stainless brake cables or with PTFE cables and lined housings. Given that these upgrades are invisible and don’t detract from the historical look of the bike, they should be done before or at the same time as the pad upgrade. The only down side to the pad upgrade is that Scott/Mathauser pads are only available in the high friction, orange coloured compound not black like the OEM Mafac pads.

Other brake pads such as the one piece molded types or the basic black ones in cheaply made stamped steel shoes will fit your caliper arms but they will have much less toe-in and a poorer but probably acceptable friction material. The OEM pads on my Spidel branded brakes had the original shoes and pads with the front pads worn down almost to the alloy shoe as you can see in the photo to the right. The pads themselves were probably 35 or 40 years old, hard, high effort and desperately needing replacement.  When removed from the shoe, they were crumbly and fibrous in composition and well beyond their “best before ” dating period. The typical replacement Mafac pads on the market are the 4 or 5 dot Racer/Competition/2000 style most easily available from Kool Stop. While I tried to source a replacement pad to fit the unique OEM shoes, I used a set of basic rubber brake blocks with the OEM wheel guides. They stopped the bike but the wheel guides did not lock onto them as on the original shoes and the clunky look did not really suit the bike. So the search was on to find a suitable, effective and good fitting brake pad insert for the Mafac’s alloy brake shoes. Part Two of the series will address that search and the results.

 

Mafac Brake Hood Restorations.

On March 5th, 2015 I wrote a review of the full Mafac rubber lever hoods available from Jordi at Reciclone in Spain. At that time, Jordi did not make reproductions of the rubber-covered adjusters as he had no adjuster in good enough condition to serve as a master from which to take a mold. Subsequently, after conversations with Jordi, I wrote, “Jordi is currently evaluating the practicality of making matching adjuster rubbers which would need to be added to the owners’ own adjuster body.”

To assist him, I mailed him a NOS rubber adjuster and a matching metal adjuster mechanism. After repeated attempts, he was finally able to come up with a satisfactory reproduction. He then emailed me and let me know that a complimentary set was on its way to me as a thank you for the use of  my original which he had mastered  for his mold. When the box arrived, it contained my original adjuster cover and mechanism plus a finished adjuster cover set and an example of the prototype moldings.

This whole project arose out of the difficulty involved in getting Mafac branded hood covers for restorations and, to a lesser extend, for everyday use. This was a particular problem for Jordi as Reciclone does bike restorations as well as sales of period spares and accessories for vintage bikes. Typically, the gum rubber hoods and adjusters dry in the sunlight, harden and begin to crack and then crumble. (See the red circled area in photo.) The left hand adjuster in the photo is Jordi’s reproduction. One solution is to simply delete the adjuster. Another is to switch to the period correct alternative of the knurled metal adjusters or the metal adjusters with rubber O rings (which also perish). However, if the bike had gum rubber adjusters on its Mafacs and a restoration is to be absolutely correct, then that is what must be replaced.

Should you find yourself in that position and go to the Reciclone page for hoods, you will not see an adjuster listed as an available product. The reason behind that is the difficulty involved in making the adjuster covers. The covers I received were cleanly molded in gum coloured  rubber. They were a perfect, tight fit on the metal adjusters and accepted the chrome steel ferrules to support the brake cable end with no problem.  Below is a large image to allow you to view the reproduction adjuster clearly.

 

 

One of the problems with reproduction hoods and adjusters is matching the colours of the gum moldings. In the accompanying photo below, the hood on the left is a Reciclone reproduction and the hood on the right, with an adjuster, is a NOS Mafac part that was received exactly as shown when new. Typically, Mafac adjusters and hoods did not match due to batch variations in a large-scale production environment.

 

 

In a practical sense, this means that Jordi could not guarantee that your hoods and his adjusters would match harmoniously due to the colour variability of the batches of rubber for the moldings. As well, being small parts, the adjusters are very picky to make. So, as nice as they are, the adjusters will be special order items only, not regularly offered merchandise. You will need to contact Jordi (reciclone1@gmail.com) directly at Reciclone to discuss an order and I would recommend having the hoods molded at the same time to optimize your colour match. Regardless of which route you choose, good luck with your restoration.

 

Mafac Hoods – A Review

Background

was a post World War II bicycle brake manufacturer based in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne region of south-central France. They remain known today among enthusiasts for their Criterium cantilever brakes , beloved of cyclo-crossers and early mountain bikers, and their centerpull brakes like the Raid, Top 63, Competition, 2000, GT and the Racer. They also produced matching levers for these brakes which brings us to the central difficulty current users have with these products. Lever hood replacement.

This is a problem because people are rediscovering the excellent braking and modulation available with these centerpull brakesets, even the maligned and nearly universally used Racer. They are also discovering that the half hood and full hood rubber lever covers are virtually unobtainable as new stock. Contemporary lined brake cables like Velo Orange’s and JagWire along with Kool Stop brake pads (see test here) can greatly enhance the braking feel and power of these brakesets but whether for daily use or restoration, be ready to pay extortionate prices for new old stock (NOS) lever hoods. My recently restored (2015) 1970s Bertin C 37 has NOS gum rubber lever covers. With an auction purchase, shipping and import duties, the on-the-bike cost was $75 Canadian. Not what you would like to pay for hoods for your scruffy commuting Peugeot AO 8.

So, what to do? Scrounge old bike shows? Haunt EBay and look for used but not disgusting levers with hoods? Realize that as classic and vintage hobbyists, we are cheap but just take a deep breath and pay up for NOS? Go without?

None of those options are necessary any longer. While browsing on line, I ran across an online shop called Reciclone which sells NOS and reproduction parts for classic and vintage bicycles. The key word is “reproduction” because Jordi, the shop owner, makes molds for and reproduction hoods for various brake levers, including Mafac. He has different style repros for Zeus, Campy, Universal, Weinmann, Shimano as well as Mafac. The full coverage lever hoods are offered on the site but half hoods are available by request if you email Jordi. These are correct to having the metal retainer clip molded into the half hood to retain the rear of the rubber cover to the lever body. (See the photo to the right.) The Mafacs are available in black or tan/amber in both half and full formats.

 

Review

Having seen the hoods on line in Jordi’s shop, I determined to buy a pair. I had one pair of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) replacement hoods tucked away but spares are always good, especially for consumables like this that are damaged by sunlight and ozone. I went on line and placed an order for one pair of amber hoods through the shop. (Black is also available.) Everything proceeded smoothly. Although the shop price shows 35 Euros, the charged price was 28.93 due to tax rebate. Shipping was 15 Euros for tracked international shipping (which I would appreciate later in the process) coming to a total of 43.93 Euros/ $64.97 CDN.

When looking at the amount, please remember the sharp decline in the $ CDN in February, the tracked postage cost and the fact that these reproductions are all hand molded. This is Jordi actually doing the hand labour not some injection molding machine.  The order was mailed on February 9th, left Spain on February 11th and spent a further 11 days crawling through Canada’s postal system including a 5 day stay in Customs. Jordi’s efficiency and helpfulness were exemplary, Canada Post – not so much. When the parcel arrived, it had been carefully bubble packed and shipped in a clearly marked and classy box. The whole package was undamaged and could have been installed directly out of the box had I wished it. Included was a clearly written and illustrated set of instructions. (See reproduction immediately below.)

A close examination of the hoods revealed that they were well molded and robust. There was a slight inconsistency in the left shoulder of the hood near where it would rest by the handlebar but this had no effect on the strength or durability.  There was a very slight amount of mold flash at the joint line of the mold comparable to NOS Mafac lever covers. (See the photo below.) The installation instructions were followed as provided with the addition of a few drops of water to make the solution more slippery. The lever used was an older Mafac Course 121 but since the alloy lever body is the same with Mafac’s Course 419 with the drilled lever blades here would be no problem with using these hoods on that type of lever. The plastic bodied lever of the same style would fit as well but the Mafac Promotion plastic levers will not accept this or any other lever cover that I am aware of.

 

The lever cover was molded very accurately to the contours of the lever body. The hood stretched properly during installation with no stress marks in the corners or at angles. Once slipped on over the body, the hood was tight and wouldn’t move even given the slippery soap solution underneath. The metal adjuster for this type of lever fit perfectly as did the rubber covered adjuster of the drilled Course 419 style lever. The overall feel and look of the hood was the same as that of one of the NOS hoods that I originally had in stock. The rubber adjuster cover differs in colour in the photos because they were virtually never the same in “real life”. In the accompanying photo of the Repro and the OEM lever hoods, the reproduction is the lower of the two hoods shown with the original Mafac hood shown with its original adjuster. Jordi is currently evaluating the practicality of making matching adjuster rubbers which would need to be added to the owners’ own adjuster body.

 

Conclusion

The Mafac reproduction hoods offered by Jordi at Reciclone are well made  and well fitted to the lever base. The comfort of the lever seems comparable to the NOS Mafacs. Those who use their bikes on a daily basis might want to consider the black versions of the hoods as they are probably less vulnerable to ozone and ultraviolet. It is very useful to have these reproduction hoods available to fill the gap created by the exhaustion of the NOS hood supply for both daily riders as well as for restorations. A big thank you to Jordi at Reciclone for the Mafacs as well as the other hood styles he has taken the trouble to reproduce.