Competition

Brand: Mafac

The Competition was one of the top-end centre-pull calipers from MAFAC (Manufacture Arvernoise de Freins et Accessoires pour Cycles), the French brake maker founded in 1947 whose centre-pull brakes equipped a very large share of European road bicycles before the company disappeared in the late 1980s. It sat above the Racer, the range's best-seller, and, like MAFAC's other centre-pull brakes, uses aluminium alloy arms, a straddle cable and a mounting bolt running through the brake bridge or the fork crown (or brazed-on pivots). MAFAC's dimension tables list the Competition in short reach (44-54 mm), long reach (49-59 mm) and adjustable (51-66 mm) versions, all on a 62-63 mm arm spacing. A later 'GT' variant with an alloy tyre guide and a straddle cable with a ball end at each end was sold until the late 1970s and the early 1980s.