drowned rat Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 I was wondering if any of you guys could point me in the right direction regarding a 78 349 Cota I have. Firstly the front brake is poor, new cables, new shoes but still the lever feels very spongy and will touch the bars. The brake does work but won`t lockup, doesn`t inspire confidence ! Secondly, the front forks have air valves on the top, is this for assisting the damping with air or for letting air out, get different reports from different people. I have never had a Mont before so can`t tell if it is a quirk of the model ?. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialsrfun Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 Air forks were popular at that time but I cannot help you with them. As regards the brakes are you more used to discs if so they will feel rubbish, there are however things you can do to ensure the best performance, do the linings fit the drum, sometimes due to wear in the drum or if the shoes or linings you get are undersized there is insufficient contact area. always position the lever arm on the cam so that as the brake is applied the arm moves towards 90 degrees and is not going over centre if it does the leverage is lost. personally I always get my brake shoes relined with saftek green gripper material, it is available in different thicknesses and is also relatively unaffacted by water. after a trial you should really pull out the wheels/brakes and dry them out this reduces corrosion in the drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliechitlins Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 Some folks used to remove the springs and use air to save weight. It's a bummer if you ruin a seal. Others used to just run a few psi to tune the suspension. Their best use is to bleed air from the forks after a few hours of riding. It's best to have your drums turned on a lathe to make sure they're round and find a brake place that can match the arc of the linings to the drum. The easiest thing you can do is make your own inner cable out of decent wire. Most cables are completely twisted, and want to un-twist when stressed, making them 'stretch'. I have found really nice wire in hardware stores that has a longitudinal core and doesn't stretch. Any catalog that deals with home-built and/or ultra-light aircraft will have wire rope that is far superior to what you've got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikb Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 I had a 1979 247 with air forks, I seem to remember they had springs in them but they were very soft and you had to pump in a small amount of air to get them to the correct stiffness for your wieght 10 to 20 psi I think!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feetupfun Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 My Cota 348 came with air valves on the fork caps. They are intended to be used as a tuning tool for fork action. The standard steel springs inside are a bit soft on their own. About 3psi with the forks topped out works fine for me as far as spring rate goes, but it does cause a bit of additional friction at the fork seals. If I could buy stiffer steel springs and run without the air pressure I would. Unfortunately I haven't found a replacement yet. BTW is your Cota really a 349 or is it a 348? They are quite different in the frame, engine, triple clamps and seat/tank. Where I live the 348 was sold 1976 to 1978 and the first red 349 came out in 1979. Keep on trying to get the front brakes to work well. Its worth it. The 348 has very good brakes when set up properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drowned rat Posted July 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Thanks for the replys guys. There is a guy local to me who does the brakes for road race stuff and machines the linings to the drum, but it is expensive. I did have a set done but found that the linings started to break up after a while, but may have to dig deep and have another set done and bin the stock ones. It may be a 79, I know that it is a early one with the full front hub, air forks and seat cover very similar to the 348 one. I bought the bike in bits with a partly stripped engine due to the crank snapped on the flywheel side, bit of a common problem I now understand and cranks are getting like hens teeth here in the UK, I did get one but had to have some work done on it as it had started to crack on the flywheel side near the woodruff key. Anyway thanks for the input Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helmet Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 high does your bike habve the original amal levers ? compare these to a set of new dominos the distance from the lever to the end of the cable adjusters is almost a cm longer on the amals giving more pull...this does make a differance helmet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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