old school brakes question...

[generallee]

heres something thats been making me wonder...

I have an 89 GT Freestyle Tour frame, usa made, from 1989 - and it has u brake lugs under the chainstays... I know that some haros, I think the rs2 also had u brake mounts for a while in the 80's....
I remember owning from new a 91 gt freestyke tour frame that had caliper mounting only... so im wondering, why did manafacturers put u brake lugs on in the late80's, [which obviously give you better braking peformance - still used today!] then revert back and take a backwards step in my opinion by taking them off again - i remeber waiting for u brake lugs to come back in in the early 90's so I could actually stop my bike again!

[dialledbikes]

First time I saw U-brake lugs on any bike was in 1990 when I bought a GT Tequesta mountain bike.  Most other MTB companies were using canti-lever brakes, but GT used U-brakes.

I didn't realise GT used U-brakes on BMX bikes in the 80's then stopped using them again until the mid-90s.

[generallee]

yep - and haro seemed to do the same too i think?

[CD17]

I have an 88 master with U brake mounts, but I think they started to use them in late 87.

I was thinking the same thing, as my 1990 Master does not have them    it could have been as a money saving thing, as BMX became less popular in the late 80s early 90s

[almasterb]

I heard somewhere there was a shortage of Dia Compe 990 brakes at the time? The mid 88 Haros didn't have them either.

[CD17]

Yes & why did they only put them on the back brake 

[SaMAlex]

I heard that the reason GT stopped using U brakes on their frames was because the "kids" who were buying their bikes had loads of trouble setting a U brake up so they went back to a side pull to give the bike shops less stress.

I think they only put U brakes on the back cos, as they were a newish brake, no-one had worked out that you could put them on the front and still use a hollow stem bolt.

[MartyC]

U brakes were very hard to set-up and they usually fell apart unless you took good care of them as they attracted all the crap in the world.  I remember at Heff's the number of problems with them where they would fail, break or just fall apart and so on. 

[thebigdog]

I am not sure about the Haros but as a genral rule GT put 990's on US built frames and High End complete bikes.

Vertigo's, performers I have seen from early 90's have caliper. Freestyles and stuff have 990 mounts. I have seen exceptions to the rule though  

[gary4130]

could have been for costing reasons? having to buy AD 990's off dia compe and having to weld lugs on ? seams strange to go backwards  them when more rider owend companys came out ADD'S are back 

[SaMAlex]

could have been for costing reasons? having to buy AD 990's off dia compe and having to weld lugs on ? seams strange to go backwards  them when more rider owend companys came out ADD'S are back 

Rider Owned companies made/make bike for riding. Big companies like GT and Haro make bikes to make a profit, even if they aint that good to ride.