I Test Vintage Mafac Brakes Against Modern Shimano Brakes in the Rain

It's raining, and a cat runs out in front of you on the slippery road. Can your vintage Mafac brakes stop you in time? Are they anywhere near as good as modern brakes?

[@55whiplash]

I've seen Jan Heine lift his rear wheel off the ground when stopping with old Mafac Raid brakes. I had an old Raleigh with centerpulls and fully loaded panniers and been riding down long, steep 500-meter descents in the pouring rain, and stopped fine once when a feral pig ran in front of me.

[@thevelocollective343]

Yes, I totally agree and I was glad my Mafac’s proved that they can stop you just as well as many modern brakes.

[@thedoingnotthedone.6292]

Reassuring. I've a gitain with the same brakes and it's not really good enough, yet... You've answered the question as to it being me not getting everything adjusted or something fundamental and "things have moved on". I've also a Dawes kingpin with steel wheels and THAT in the wet needs a lot of care.

[@thevelocollective343]

Thanks for your feedback, I do think vintage bikes need to be tuned properly for stopping purposes.

[@thevelocollective343]

Do we overhype all this new tech? These brakes nearly did as well as good quality Shimano brakes..