Effectiveness of techniques to improve the performance of rim brakes My bike does not perform badly at the moment, however browsing this site has lead me to wonder whether the performance of the brakes (the front one in particular) could be improved by various means and how effective those are. I am squeezing fairly hard and stopping in a short distance, however I am looking to improve the 'stopping force per force applied to levers' ratio.

My bike is a road bike that has single pivot side-pull calliper brakes and alloy rims. I think the pads are rubber (not sure exactly).

The techniques I can think of are:


(already done) Steel to alloy rims? Answer: Large performance improvement in wet conditions
Single pivot to dual pivot? Wikipedia says "These brakes offer a higher mechanical advantage, and resulting better braking." What is the experienced improvement?
Changing to materials for the brake pads (Rubber, leather, cork)?
You did the right thing by replacing the steel rims. Vintage bikes are nice, but the 70's can keep their steel rims. :-)

As others have said, you should make sure that the entire brake system is properly adjusted. 

Since you're dealing with an old bike, I recommend just replacing the brake cable and casing. This can be done for less than 20 dollars. Before inserting the brake cable smear a thin layer of grease on it by running it past your fingers with a dab of grease.

If your levers are in good shape, slather the interior pivot points and cable anchor with grease. If not, then just replace them. Again, that can be done inexpensively-- and you can get "aero brakes" which route the cable under the handlebar wrap (non-aero brakes are another thing the 70's can keep!).

Finally, there is nothing wrong with single pivot brakes. Yes, dual pivot is marginally better because they tend to stay in place (not rub the rim) and you get a barely noticeable increase in leverage. You absolutely will want to replace your brake pads, however. Modern brake pads are sooo much better. I and many others have had success with the koolstop dual compound brakes.