Hitchcocks Forum

I do not expect this is the answer to the front brake riddle, but is does not help..
This is thje -since 2002- model brake plate;
I thought i should share..

My old (previous )brake plate has a LOT of play on the brake cams. Does also not help to get a stable adjustment.

Are there people here to notice that the 0since 2002-brake plate model is really better?

Here i have an old brake plate and the -since 2002-model side by side.
I cannot find any difference besides the mounting of the pivots?

Is there anyone who noticed a difference in braking behaviour bertween the two?

Hi, the difference, on one the pivots are in blind holes the other one bolted!

vince wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:10 pm

Hi, the difference, on one the pivots are in blind holes the other one bolted!

Yes, and would maybe the blind-hole fixing be not sturdy enough?

I honestly must mention, i reworked the brake cams on an lathe to ca 50% original width for more stopping power. This also means evenso more strain on the pivots. Would it be too much?


An other thing, do the old style brake plates need a different spacer? I cannot remember anymore. But when i mount the older model brake plate, i can see between the brake plate and the hub! I cannot remember this was original the case..
The pics;
reworked brake cams, and space between old style plate and the hub.

Hi, how much brake lining is making contact when you apply the brakes? Vince

Depends on how long they have been worn. with this damaged brake plate it was taking a lot of time for one side to cover 3/4 of the surface, despite made on radius.. Blamed it on the 'tolerances'of the cams in the plate (which is from new also a problem) but then recently i discovered this.

No matter if the cause is the 'grasping'of the brake, or due to the smaller cams, this is a serious quality problem.

I had a '98 Indian market model 350 back in 2002 purchased with very low mileage as a non runner. I found the brakes poor at the time , set up as per our hosts method and with their linings .
I sold that bike after about 8 years warning the new owner about poor brakes but he found them to be ok....
More recently I purchased an '03 Bullet65 500 as a rolling project . I set up the brakes very carefully, not as above but with both levers set as a parallelogram with the trunnions at the optimum length apart , and all play removed or optimised by fitting numerous trunnions until I found the best fit in the levers. Chalked up new linings , removed high spots but over a number of years the brakes were variable to say the least , I even tried some old shoes that came with the bike and strangely at times with these I could bottom out the forks and feel them ( the forks ) flexing , sadly though they just weren't consistent . Strangely I found some extremely cheap shoes I purchased on ebay worked best but these were still inconsistent .
In the end I just felt i couldn't ride the bike any more because of the poor brakes ( i do have other modern disc braked bikes also).
At the end of last year I ended up purchasing a reduced price ( cosmetic damage ) Disc conversion from our hosts . I can't have spent more than 2 hours fitting it including a little bit of shimming and a few licks of a file on the fork leg mount just to get the caliper fitting squarely. Straight away i had better brakes , there was a problem with the master cylinder but this was replaced foc , and then purely for personal preference I replaced the pads for a different make and for the first time in my Enfield owning life I don't have to wonder as I approach traffic lights " do I have enough stopping distance if these turn red ", many times i rolled across a stop line while travelling at moderate speeds . I spent dozens and dozens of hours trying to sort the drum brake . Now I have something with much more feel especially in wet conditions and is as good as anything else I have with just two fingers needed for emergency stops. . The downside ? I set out recently unknowingly with low pressure in the front tyre and when I returned the tyre had spun slightly on the rim straining the tube . Does this mean that the front brake has more torque than the engine.....
Nigel

Hi, the 6in half width front brake on my early redditch bullet with the floating pivot works really well , the 6in full width hub without pivot on my later model is crap but strangely locks up in reverse. Swapping the shoes between has the same results. Vince

I keep wondering, the bend pivots are caused by;
1- factory mistake
2- due to a few times 'grasping' of the brake (it should be able to withstand this?)
3- because of 50% less cam width, which causes evenso more pressure on the pivot.

The pivots in the older type brake plate are scewed in and secured with a bolt on the other side, maybe this is sturdier?
Pic of the older and 'new and improved' type side by side..