Noticed the brake lever arm being a little reluctant coming off when I was practicing on Sunday....did the usual 'remove the dipstick from the van and dribble a tad of oil around the arm desperatation trick'....its bad maintainance on my part, no excuse. The more keen eyed would have noticed two dipsticks in my van on Sunday, myself being the other.

 

The old girl since being rebuilt 2 years ago (?), has only had the carb cleaned once and the gearbox oil dropped 5 or 6 times, in that time she has lead an 'on and off' life as my enthusiasm has gone from peaks to troughs...I'd rather lay on a Norfolk beach than do a trial in the summer and watch my 5 year enjoying herself...maybe I should drag Speedy down to Mundesley next time...anyhow...

 

I thought I'd strip and clean the brakes out but got beaten by bad light. I then come across an article about setting up brakes and thought, I wonder how much of this is new to those whom weren't brought up on drums?

 

Reading it I knew never to mix the shoes up once 'bedded in' but didn't think about marking the camshaft before removal, these old cams are all old and must have taken a 'set' by now.

 

The bit about centering the brake plate using the brakes themselves works well from experience and I even made my axle hole larger when I rebuilt her which improved things too.

 

anyhow most will know all this, but for some it may be useful.

 

The guy is writing about cycle drums but it all transposes over very well.

 

http://bikesmithdesign.com/tips/drum-brakes.html

Edited November 15, 20169 yr by iconic558

The link has lots of good tips. It's well worth fettling drum brakes to get the best out of them but a common issue we now face is wear. If your drums have steps each side of the lining contact areas as well as heavy scoring getting them to work perfectly may be impossible. 

 

 

I must be blessed !!!  none of the numerous Fantic/ grimeca drums I have , have any bad actual drum wear .but it still takes some time to set them up for stoppies etc ....

even with the 300 backing plate . on one of my rears i have added a shim around the anchor pivot though , and it does help alot  ..( beer can and tin snips ...:0 )

Edited November 16, 20169 yr by axulsuv

I'm amazed my brakes worked as well as they did....they were full of muddy crap and was muxed in with oily crap in the rears. The shoe grooves were full!

Brakes all cleaned and greased up and working excellently.

How often are you guys stripping n cleaning out brakes...I would guess once every two years isn't often enough!

Edited November 18, 20169 yr by iconic558

Every muddy or stream based trial if you want to maintain what passes for good braking.

Or every time you hose it.

I'm amazed my brakes worked as well as they did....they were full of muddy crap and was muxed in with oily crap in the rears. The shoe grooves were full!

Brakes all cleaned and greased up and working excellently.

How often are you guys stripping n cleaning out brakes...I would guess once every two years isn't often enough!

 

Wet trial = heat up brakes after trial before loading bike into transporter to get drum surfaces as dry as possible. When I get home, clean external mud off bike then take wheels out and dry brake parts fully.

Then some time before the next ride, service the brakes

 

Wet trial = heat up brakes after trial before loading bike into transporter to get drum surfaces as dry as possible. When I get home, clean external mud off bike then take wheels out and dry brake parts fully.

Then some time before the next ride, service the brakes

Lordy.....my maintenance regime is seriously lacking

I think you've just realised why, once the pad compounds were sorted, discs were so welcome. Consistency and no weekly maintenance.

....yes, the only real chore about running twinshocks....no disc brakes.

At least twinshocks generally have the advantage of the air filter intake being a bit higher relative to the water levels we used to ride through.

You might look up how well the drum brake shaft fits to the bore inside the drum brake plate. The shaft should sit "flush" without any gap. If this assembly is loose fit it the performance of the brake won't be so good as part of the force you engage will be lost through this nonalignment. If the shaft bore has been widened a bit you might install a brass bearing. The shaft and bore should be greased periodically with waterproof grease not cupper grease which attracts dirt too well. Cupper grease can be applied in slight amounts between the upper and lower brake shaft and the brake shoes.

Another tipp, keep the inside of the brake clean and wipe out any brake out dust either from the brake hub or the brake plate assembly. This will provide better performance even if there has got water inside, as the dust and the water mixture is a slippery grease.

I do look up the springs of the brakes too as these might be bend or been partly exchanged. They should both be similar in strength and length.

Last by not least I clean the brake pad with a wire brush from all debris and look up if the shorter edges of the pads are still non rectangles.

I now all of the "tipps" above have only little effect but if you have done them all there should be a noticeable improvement in performance and they do also brake good once got wet.

my rear back plate bore where the cam goes thru is totally worn out and i will get it bushed.

....but i just cant find a new cam anywhere as mine is bent!

Edited November 20, 20169 yr by iconic558

Mmmh these small parts are not easy to find beside used at Fleabay:

 

here: http://www.bdi-production.com/en/92-partie-cycle

here: http://bmz-equipements.fr/partie-cycle/1211-came-de-frein-grimeca.html

here: https://www.ost-moped.de/grimeca.html

 

But I would ask in forehand if the dimensions are really what you need!

 

Mmmh these small parts are not easy to find beside used at Fleabay:

here: http://www.bdi-production.com/en/92-partie-cycle

here: http://bmz-equipements.fr/partie-cycle/1211-came-de-frein-grimeca.html

here: https://www.ost-moped.de/grimeca.html

But I would ask in forehand if the dimensions are really what you need!

Many thanks

Have you asked Dave from Inmotion? They have more parts than the ones listed on their website.