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[Theoldbill]

Thanks guys for your helpful comments but just to clarify the Bullet has 2 single leading shoe front brakes not TLS! The brake lever does have a rocking cable anchor to compensate for adjustment.

[Davedup]

I struggled to get my front brake working effectively on my Super Meteor (twin sided brake). It turned out that my shoes were not flat, there was wear that showed they had raised portions so not much of the shoe was in contact with the drum!
I ended up buying some Indian ones as they were better than ones I had sourced in the UK.

Good luck!
Dave

[Vintage Keith]

I've had a twin sided (4 shoes) front brake Redditch 500 Bullet for 43 years. There is no gap between the brake plate locknuts and the bottom leg clamping point on my bike. I would suggest loosening the fork stanchions so that they can be rotated, and rotote each one by 90 degree steps to see if the gap changes. The bottom legs can be realigned/spun by hand. You could have bent stanchions. Don't forget the lower pinch bolts.
According to the 1956 RE dealer workshop manual, the front brake bush housings should be free (but not loose) to self centralise, and the handlebar compensator should also be free to find it's own position.
My front brake performance isn't bad for a bike of that age, but everything is relative........