Dial compe side pull assembly adjustment

[Mickey1980]

Hello everyone!
I have a Suntour branded Dia Compe 400 sidepull brakes.
I have disassembled them for servicing and noticed a couple of things. Hope someone has answers ..
1) Ine spring appears sagged - it. does not push the calipers to full release position: I still can push them apart further with my hand. Can this be fixed? Spring cold reset?
2) The front end of the pivot bolt is actually made of a nut and a bolt - akin to the wheel hub bearing adjusting nuts. It appears there is a level of adjustment of how tight a caliper is assembled (?). I wonder how tight should it be?
Thanks heaps!

[elantra]

Sorry but personally I have not had a lot of success in trying to fix tired/corroded/bent/aged side pull brakes.
A Suntour branded Dia Compe brake might be up to 40 yrs old.

Hopefully there is a person lurking in these forums who has special interest and special skills at rebirthing old brakes.

BUT it is definitely worth a very generous squirt of WD40 on the hinges / bushes of the brake unit, and the threads of the cable end adjustment housing etc.

If you are in Sydney or Melbourne, I know that there are Swap meets coming up soon.
There might be more functional brakes offered for sale at one of these events.

But also note I think that a lot of retro bikes have been “repowered” with the generally more functional brakes from the 1990’s
Such as Shimano RX100 or Shimano 600, but there are probably various other brands that work just as well

[Mickey1980]

Sorry but personally I have not had a lot of success in trying to fix tired/corroded/bent/aged side pull brakes.
A Suntour branded Dia Compe brake might be up to 40 yrs old.

These appear to be Suntour Superbe that look not too old - allen head screws all round. It would be a shame just to bin them. Want to make some use of them.

Besides, getting the best available brakes is not the purpose of the build


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