Hi all,

Does anyone know of any useful mods that can be made to my mono to help it to stop. The bike is great for most things but the drum brakes can be a handful.

I want to keep the bike original so wont put discs on.

I usually clean the brakes out after 3-4 rides and rough up the pads/drums.

Cheers

I clean drum brakes on any bike after every ride for best performance. Think its the only way to have them at their peak.

Sorry if it is teaching aunty to suck eggs but have you made sure that linings are actually a good fit in the drum, most drum brakes have shoes that contact much less of the braking surface than they should, can be worth checking wear marks on shoes, one very basic thing is when fitting front wheel leave spindle loose then with brake pulled on hard it will centralise shoes, then tighten up wheel spindle

(sorry if it is telling you something you already know)

use shoes with grooves in them and clean after each outing

All the above is good advice, the front will never offer disc level performance. A YZ front brake plate with the external operating arm supposedly increases performance although despite having one I haven't tried it myself yet.

I had a ty r years back, first i tried a brake cable with a longer outer that went right down to the brake plate - was a bit better then i ended up with a yz 125 brake plate with an external arm ( as above ) that was better then i put a disc on that was rubbish. so yz plate with good shoes.

Steve.

machine the shoes to an exact fit on a lathe, then you can be certain of the largest possible contact area..

All the above is correct advice

1. Make sure the shoes are full contacting the drum.

2. Use a yz or it brake plate.

3. Machine the brake plate spindle hole to allow a small amount of play.

4. Hold the brake on while tightening wheel up.

5. Use oversized forklift truck brake lining material.

You will find that the drum is worn, measure it up and have oversize linings fitted to your old shoes by villiers services. Tell them what size you require and that they are for trials (soft sintered linings). Also make sure the cam bush is not worn. Nick.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply and pass on handy info.

Bin the drum brake and swap for a Pinky front end with AJP 4 pot calliper (fits straight onto the Yam fork leg). Makes a massive difference.

Hello, all of the above is good advise but I found the main reason for the front brake not working on the ty mono's is the bracket that the outer cable fits into flex's under hard braking(not the handle bar end the other end). Get someone to pull the front brake on(hard) while your looking closely at that bracket and you will see it flexing !!!!. I re-fabricated this bracket in much thicker steel and it totally transformed the braking. Hope this is of some use. Regards No balance.

Arc the pads to match the drums (this machinery and people who know how to drive it are getting scarce here in the US).

Get some no-stretch wore rope (cable) from a sailing or specialty aircraft supply house and make your own cable.

HUGE difference.

This was the secret I kept to myself for years when restoring antique Harleys and Indians.

If you wanted your front brake to work, you had to send it to me

No Balance has the best response. If you have not done this mod, you have missed the boat. When the ty`s were new we would toss the bracket. Just take a small piece of flat aluminum stock, About two inches long, 1/2 inch wide,3/8 in width or so. Bolt one end to the fork leg mount, tap the other end for the cable. All flex was removed.

Great tips chaps

Had this mono for 16 months and have not got fed up of playing with her. Used it 19 times(diary) and feel we are just about seeing eye to eye. The wife says I love my bike more than her but that's not true, the chickens come after my bike! Feet up!