On Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 7:00:49 PM UTC-4, Mark J. wrote:
Hi all,

I'm renovating an ancient bike with 70's Mafac cantilever brakes. I
just want to replace the cables*, and the straddle cables gave me a
quandary.

Mafac straddle-cable ends are old-style gearshift cable lugs, and
there's a fitting they goes into to engage the brake arm.

In the old days, we'd replace the straddle with any good gear shift
cable (Campy's were generally beefier), but modern index-shift gear
cables seem a bit fragile for brake work.

Thoughts?

Mark J.

*The brake shoes were replaced long ago with Cool-Stop ?Eagle claws?, so
that's covered. Mafac pads were a bit of a fright.

With any luck A. Muzi will have some. He runs Yellow Jersey Bicycle Shop in Wisconsin and has all sorts of old stuff.

Cheers