Coast to Coast Colson
- Thread starter Oak Tree
- Start date
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Schweeeeeeet 
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Tasty!
So here’s the rear brake story.
I had this cool center pull dia-comp caliper that I wanted to use on this build but the frame bracket was the curved style with the hole in the wrong direction (for a brake caliper). It was perfect to mount the original rear fender. I also didn’t want to weld anything on the perfectly good Colson frame. It’s my first Colson and I haven’t ran across another since. So I made an L-shaped bracket that would bolt to the fender bracket and then provide a hole (in the other direction) for the brake caliper. Sounds easy, right?
Not so fast. With a center pull caliper, I needed a bracket to “end” the cable housing in, so I had to fashion that up in a way that I could bolt it on using the same fender bracket hole. Ok, done right? Nope.
When the brake was applied, it squealed like a ....well, it squealed bad. After some pondering and talking to another bike guy, figured that the metal brackets were flexing under the strain which allowed the brake pads to move. I then went back and added 2 support small brackets on the under side. These brackets were smaller than a dime and I’m using a stick welder so that was a tricky endeavor.
And finally, had the add a spacer so that the pads would press against the wheel instead of the sidewall.
It was the classic simple little thing that required way more hours than I figured it would. And that’s the rest of the story
I had this cool center pull dia-comp caliper that I wanted to use on this build but the frame bracket was the curved style with the hole in the wrong direction (for a brake caliper). It was perfect to mount the original rear fender. I also didn’t want to weld anything on the perfectly good Colson frame. It’s my first Colson and I haven’t ran across another since. So I made an L-shaped bracket that would bolt to the fender bracket and then provide a hole (in the other direction) for the brake caliper. Sounds easy, right?
Not so fast. With a center pull caliper, I needed a bracket to “end” the cable housing in, so I had to fashion that up in a way that I could bolt it on using the same fender bracket hole. Ok, done right? Nope.
When the brake was applied, it squealed like a ....well, it squealed bad. After some pondering and talking to another bike guy, figured that the metal brackets were flexing under the strain which allowed the brake pads to move. I then went back and added 2 support small brackets on the under side. These brackets were smaller than a dime and I’m using a stick welder so that was a tricky endeavor.
And finally, had the add a spacer so that the pads would press against the wheel instead of the sidewall.
It was the classic simple little thing that required way more hours than I figured it would. And that’s the rest of the story
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Lol it's only the first step that's simple: having an idea. It's everything else that makes the job complex!
