Got a 1984 fantic 240 and it's always had weak brakes.

Just put new shoes new cable and lever on it but it has made little difference.

I've tried to leave everything loose cable tie the brake on and then tighten everything up but still the brakes are weak.

The brakes bite but the lever still feels spongey and pulls nearly all the way to rhe bars after it bites.

I've seen on here somewhere that the centre hole on the backing plate can be opened by 0.5mm ish to help centralise the the shoes in the drum.

Is this my best chance of getting better brake performance before I go and enlarge the hole?

Thanks for any replies!😁

Don’t ruin your backing plate. You need to have the shoes fitted to the drum on a lathe. If that is not a option then you have to sand on the shoes until they fit the drum. Sand them where the shiny spots are that are making drum contact, that’s the high spots. It takes multiple attempts to get them arced in by hand.

Hrtdoug is on it. You need to sand the high spots off.

And then once you have done that you need to centralise the shoes by spinning the wheel and hitting the brakes hard a couple of times to centralise the shoes before doing up the axle nut. Make sure you keep the brake on while doing up the nut.

This is assuming you have a good cable with no friction, a properly lubed cam and quality shoes and a decent lever and perch

And the Moose EZ3 perch and lever assy will give you more leverage and more braking power. 

What's the condition of the hub like ? I would get it re lined if it's worn . You can get this done without taking the wheel apart.