Ron Cooper's back end. Brakes are Shimano Deore XT from the late 80s. They replaced quasi-original Mafac cantis when my dad acquired the frame in 1978 via a complex 3-way swap (to be illustrated later). He always complained of poor braking. The XT cantis didn't improve matters, though the fault is not theirs. I hold the Weinmann drop levers responsible: I could never get the bike to stop comfortably with them either. The current setup with GB bars uses Weinmann levers too, but they're more easily grasped and the bike stops lovelyly!