Chang Star or Lee Chi brakes

[Chilli Rinse]

After a comment by Griff in my last topic Old or new I like the idea of buying 80's copies rather than DC repops for my brakes. The appeal is obviously cost and also a slightly more 'honest' build. That in mind as topic title suggest ... Chang Star or Lee Chi? Is there a better copy to go with or are they pretty much on par. Your thoughts please !

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

If I recall, the Chang Star brake MX1000 callipers look better than the Lee Chi's. The MX logo is moulded/cast into the calliper arm, just like DC ones. I think the Lee Chi ones just have an MX decal with a circle around it. I had 2 nice sets of Lee Chi Tech 3 style levers, so wanted callipers to match. I got some Chang Stars, stripped & polished them up, designed some Lee Chi 'kidney' shaped decals, and got them printed onto clear backing. I stuck these onto some shiny sticky backing 

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[Chilli Rinse]

Yeah bang on, the casting issue of the MX  looks better on the Changs. But the Lee Chi casting looks crisper on the rest of the Calipers from the very limited digging I've done (1/2 hour tonight). Interesting!

[Chilli Rinse]

Not so sure now

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

The MX decal on the Lee Chi's killed it for me. One of my favourite bike parts are MX style calipers, and I love the moulded/cast indented MX. The Lee Chi levers looked better, so I just did a mix & match and changed the decals. Looks better, even if not 100% authentic/correct - that's only my view, but that's the beauty of the hobby - your bike, your rules 

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

The Chang Star caliper in your pic looks a bit tired - If it was shiny like the Lee Chi one, I don't think there would be so much of a difference..

[chrisv39]

Are you specifically looking for mx1000 type brakes? If not have you looked at dia compe 890s, they can usually be picked up on here pretty reasonably priced. Also have a look at Shimano tourneys or if you want something cheaper have a look at Weinmanns. All look better than the repop DCs in my opinion.

[Chilli Rinse]

I tend to agree with you. If you're gonna knock off a part, make it as good as you can. Those Lee Chi are nos though. I've decided to try and go all nos (copies or not) with minimal repops. Digging my own grave here lol.

[Chilli Rinse]

Are you specifically looking for mx1000 type brakes? If not have you looked at dia compe 890s, they can usually be picked up on here pretty reasonably priced. Also have a look at Shimano tourneys or if you want something cheaper have a look at Weinmanns. All look better than the repop DCs in my opinion.

Ideally I want MX 1000's as they were spec on my build. So knock off 1000's would be better but I am looking at others too. Cheers 👍🏼

[Taipan]

Formos made the best Diacompe MX copy caliper quite hard to find tho,arms were almost as thick as the original DC ones,stamped mx was very clean and tidy aswell,crazy thing is they were roughly the same price as the DC's bitd when you look in action bike mag's 

[deeman]

cheap FORMOS but in ststes

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMX-FORMOS-Rear-1000A-MX-Brake-Caliper-1982-Powerlite-Old-Vintage/264193730195?hash=item3d832c6693:g:dmYAAOSwv6FbzhMw:rk:3:pf:0

[griff]

Formos made the best Diacompe MX copy caliper quite hard to find tho,arms were almost as thick as the original DC ones,stamped mx was very clean and tidy aswell,crazy thing is they were roughly the same price as the DC's bitd when you look in action bike mag's 

 

[BMX1973]

Some Lee Chi calipers had embossed MX logos. These came on the Mongoose Californian.

[Chilli Rinse]

More food for thought !!

[P J Tunni]

I was looking for a Chang Star brake set-up for a future Hutch build, they were a bugger to find! The only lever i could find was a right hand one and both lever and calliper i had to ship from the US. 

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

Formos made the best Diacompe MX copy caliper quite hard to find tho,arms were almost as thick as the original DC ones,stamped mx was very clean and tidy aswell,crazy thing is they were roughly the same price as the DC's bitd when you look in action bike mag's 

 

I agree with this. I have 1 set of formos calipers, and the quality and feel is excellent. Equally as good as DC’s👍