What are the best drum brake hubs going? Obviously they have to be light and reasonable at stopping but also water proof. The Grimeca's in my Armstrong give up when they even see water

Grimeca's are pretty good if you have the right shoes, Newfen work well when wet.

The best drums ever came on the last drum braked YZ's (for the front anyways) , 2nd best is the Fantic 300 . But with a little work just about any drum can be made to function good , Some can just be great ....

Newfren GF.0200_AFTR  their socalled Antiaqua PN for almost all Grimeca hubbed Trials Bikes.

Edited February 13, 20179 yr by brownie001

I did think of the M/X yam hubs as yam brakes always seem good, maybe even off one of the smaller 100 0r even 80's, what do you think?

The very Last drum braked YZ's was basically the end of drum brake technology on motorcycles . Both shoes expanded outward at both ends , giving you almost total shoe contact , and other manufactures were already playing with discs , The YZ's worked just as good in the dry , But get them under water and you know the story from there ... I raced desert back in those days so I didn't care , I liked the feel of the drums @ 90 mph. But the discs were lighter and didn't fade away ...

New to trials stuff, but longtime rider.

Silly question, can the drum brakes be too powerful on a vintage machine?

29 minutes ago, oni nou said:

When I owned a TY175 I always wore brogues and my brakes used to work well.

But sparked a lot ?

I'm  using grimeca on my159 bultaco build that were sourced from a SWM chassy,  they are lighter , I used the same set up on my old beta and all was good, I agree on the yz brakes being good but I think the hubs are big and heavy, my '85 cota wears 1976 CR 125 hubs, they are small, light and powerful, also there is a good selection of brake shoes and sprockets available for the CR.

I use the standard Bultaco Sherpa T hubs with a cast iron liner installed in the hubs. I have three Sherpas with this and EBC brake shoes and I find all of them brilliant in the wet or dry. Graham.

On 2/14/2017 at 5:48 AM, oni nou said:

Yes....an example being you are riding along at 15 miles an hour and you apply the front brake which then catapults you over the handle bars....the brakes would be too powerful..........

Do you really mean if the brakes were too powerful it may damage parts of the bike when braking as in the front forks may bend or such effect.

 

I tend to disagree with the over the bars concept, while possible, that would seem more technique or a brake system with no feel or progression.

My asking about brakes being too powerful, is, as I see modern riders hopping about, wedged between rocks, those brakes must be very powerful.  For the drum brake vintage machine, is this simply not needed, or is it too powerful of a brake system.

As I mentioned, this is new to me.  I read mixed comments.  What is the truth in all of it?

6 hours ago, oni nou said:

The part about going over the bars was but  a joke Sir, on a vintage bike I am sure that at 15 miles an hour  that your only chance of going over the bars would be hitting a stone wall or such.

Regarding the modern hydraulic braking systems used to help trick riding...... that kind of braking power would probably be frowned upon; even in a drum brake set up just for the sake of preserving the bikes/keeping them in a state of performance that relates to the era when they were ridden.

Is not the charm of an older bike all those things that are differences to a current bike.I am no expert in anything [perhaps putting socks on] but I am sure the vintage enthusiasts do not appreciate change/performance enhancing bits that are not appropriate.

I suspected humor, and accepted it as that.  However, I am sure someone here somewhere has done exactly what you posted.  Over thars at slow speed.

Agree that super powerful brakes may not be vintagey, if that is a word.  But seeing the efforts some have taken appears to be a problem needing something.

Case in point, this 73 OSSA MAR I have...the rear brake is small with kind of narrow shoes.  Add to it the craziest cable setup ever designed.  No doubt good enough for some stuff, but as mentioned in another post, it may require steel soles followed by a sparking light show.

I suppose modern brakes on both moto and mountain bike are pretty evolved.  Seems I am comparing an older drum brake passenger car to modern sport sub compact.  New is smaller, lighter and better brakes.  But we did survive the older drum brakes and talk about it. 

I have been on a few well setup vintage bikes and the ones I liked the best had the best brakes.  They where still the vintage bike drum brakes but had had all the work done one could do to make them as good as possible.  I couldn't do crazy stuff with them but it was so nice to be able to control the bike the way I wanted. 

My 2 cents is that it was worth the effort and if I was going to setup a vintage it would have the best working brakes I could get in all aspects. 

I was sent this photo, pretty certain we know the guy in the photo.  What I am curious about is what hubs / brakes are those.  The forks do not look stock either.

Compared to stock brakes, those seem much larger diameter.

Edited February 17, 20179 yr by pmk

5 hours ago, pmk said:

I was sent this photo, pretty certain we know the guy in the photo.  What I am curious about is what hubs / brakes are those.  The forks do not look stock either.

Compared to stock brakes, those seem much larger diameter.

Front wheel has Grimeca hub (Fantic, SWM)