Hitchcocks Forum

..so afer 3 attempts to make the drum round by 'motorcycle brake specialists', 6 different braking pads, 2 brake plates an many more i think about giving up the front brake to work normally.
1 thing confuses me
here;

http://royal-enfield.10950.n7.nabble.co ... 13180.html

is mentiones that the Truions should have a between distance of 134,5mm, the same as h.o.h distance of the braking keys.. but, This distance is on my 2 plated much more?
Maybe this is a sign of 'variation'of the Indian production and a cause for not getting the brake working normally?

please, don't ask or assume that i don't know how to adjsut a doeble leading brake.. most of my motorcycles have these, it is not rocket science..

Try leaving the domed brake plate retaining nut slightly loose so it self-centres. It can't physically come off because it's trapped between the fork legs but you do need it tight enough so there isn't too much play at the bearings. So loose enough it can rotate slightly around its axis but not move sideways. Maybe 1/2 a turn off fully tight.



On my personal setup, I have the nut slightly loose as described above and the top trunnion drilled as suggested in the technical section on this site. I adjust new shoes so they strike together ONCE only when they are fitted new using the trunnions and lock them down then all further adjustment is on the cable or brake arm mounting angles. In addition, I have added a spring and sleeve over the link rod to force the two trunnions apart or I find the top cam doesn't fully disengage. The spring allows for some length adjustment but forces them to move together. I also ensure the "fully on" position has the brake arm as close to 90 degrees to the cable as possible without going beyond 90 degrees. The final and best alteration is I have a GPZ500 clutch lever mounted upside down as a brake lever and use the clutch switch as a brake switch. I think the main problem is the length of pull on the lever doesn't match the pull on the hub. The combination of all the above makes the brake adequate.



On a wee personal note. Getting pre-emptively annoyed about what specific advice is offered to you isn't a way to get the best out of forums (or people in general). I too have owned many motorcycles with TLS front brakes. Including Jawas. Enfield ones don't seem to work according to the same rules. You need to work around them, not with them. I have also found it to be the case that someone stating the apparently obvious when thinking through a problem has jogged my mind into finding the solution. I've lost count of the number of times on larger forums a non-starting bike has turned to be because the kill switch was off.

If you contact me on: royalenfield At clear DOT net DOT nz and I can send you a doc file that explains all in far better terms and detail than that version you found on nabble/Bulletech...


Tim

I have decades of experience with brakes but couldn't get my bike to stop. After gleaning advice from this forum, I got my 2LS to work better than I thought possible. After that, the shoes fully bedded and it improved even more. Our host's linings helped a great deal.

The universal laws of physic dictates that when ANY mechanical twin-leading shoe brake levers are set at ANY angle other than a perfect parallelogram, efficiency suffers.


The greater the divergence of the levers from 'True', the sooner and more extreme will be the diminishing in effectiveness: The result is a Glazed and/or Cooked lining and increased rate of 'Fade' (Crapulent brakes that many complain about)




Drill out a trunion, and/or set the levers so that the two sets of pivot centers are not in the same arc and the lengths of the sides differ, then more leverage will be applied to one shoe than the other, and one shoe over-heats; Crapulent brakes.


No disrespect to the undoubtedly well intended person who first advocated the deliberate mis-setting of the 2LS levers. But they have utterly failed to comprehend the functionality of a mechanical 2LS brake.