Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - help?

Hi to all

Have just picked up a 92/93 Race Lite - not yet sure of exact vintage, and have been stripping it down ready for a repaint and restore.

However, removed the Deore XT v-brakes, and to my bemusement discovered that there weren't any rear brake bosses! The mounts are flat, with one spring locator hole....

Having contacted another member, he suggested that there should be small "collars" that might still have been in the brakes themselves. Having checked them this evening again, there isn't. Therefore - confused!

I put the v-brakes back on, and they fitted and worked as they should. They have extra long mount bolts, which even when screwed down tight don't prevent the brakes from moving freely. My plan is to revert this back to full canti's from an M730 XT gruppo, and fitted one on with the extra long bolt. Whilst it sort of works, if you screw down the bolt as tight as it should be, the brake can't move smoothly. If you slacken the bolt off, it moves and loosens further as the brake moves. What am I doing wrong, or what is missing? If something is missing, is it obtainable from anywhere?

Many thanks and Apols for appearing extra thick to all Bonty fans out there!

Ps. Is there a way to identify the exact vintage of the frame?

Re: Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - hel

That is an odd one, clearly you could have new bosses welded on since you are restoring the bike anyway but maybe that is not the "right" thing if this is how the bike was made? I do recall studs the slipped into place...

Re: Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - hel

The studs are still in your v brakes

Bontrager bosses aren't like other ones, but you can use any old boss to fabricate replacements

Rather than type it all up again, read this
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=92986&start=45

Re: Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - hel

Thanks for the replies - and the link.

Sadly, the studs were definitely not still in the v brakes having checked, re-checked and triple checked very carefully such was my initial confusion!

They were fitted, simply with extra long bolts (much longer than a standard canti would use), and done up tight, but the v-brakes still had full movement. An M730 canti, when fitted in the same way, would not move... The v-brakes were simply rotating around the bolt with no sleeve at all. Clearly, the previous owner has lost them over time and simply had this running as was.

However, much much thanks to the kind RetroBike user that has offered to send me a pair of these collars - so very much appreciated! Am very glad to have a solution that doesn't involving mashing up the originality of the frame simply to get the brakes to work! Now, to choose a colour scheme that's going to look awesome......

Re: Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - hel

If the worse comes to worst you can always buy a nasty old et of forks on eBay, drill the thread out of the brake studs and then saw the studs themselves off and use them. Or get a couple of these as they work in the same way as the Bontrager studs:

http://problemsolversbike.com/products/ ... repair_kit

Re: Bontrager Race Lite OR - rear brake bosses missing - hel

pete_mcc":3h02tl3y said:

If the worse comes to worst you can always buy a nasty old et of forks on eBay, drill the thread out of the brake studs and then saw the studs themselves off and use them. Or get a couple of these as they work in the same way as the Bontrager studs:

http://problemsolversbike.com/products/ ... repair_kit

Click to expand...

Thanks for this reply and link - hopefully, fingers crossed and with a fair wind blowing, I've got a set on Bontrager collars on their way to me shortly, with a chainsuck plate too if I'm really lucky!!