Hitchcocks Forum

Hi folks, the front brake on my '59 Super Meteor would be less wooden if make of oak. Before/after I strip and deglaze the hub and shoes, if there anything else worth trying doing?
It's the two sided brake.
Thanks
Dave

If your brake linings are OK and the drum is still perfectly round on both sides, a proper strip and clean followed by careful reassembly (and a new set of cables from out hosts) should be a big help. My old '57 Bullet with the same front brake wasn't wooden but partly seized up when I bought the bike (drums starting to rust and cams very stiff in the backplate), after a bit of TLC it worked surprisingly well.



A.

If you REALLY fancy a bit of work it is possible to do a 4 leading shoe conversion with that front brake!



A.

It is essential that the cam bush housings on these brakes are allowed to float. The steel bushings in the brakeplate should have special bolts, wave washers and nuts which, during adjustment, permit the bush to float while the brakes are applied and then the bolts are just nipped up with a spanner. While your brake is apart, check the online Parts Book for your model to see that you have the correct components installed. If you have the early type pressed steel shoes throw them away and fit the later alloy type; the steel ones flex in use and do not sit true on the cam and fixed pivot. Also pay careful attention to the angle of the cam levers and even adjustment and routing of the twin cables. This brake will never match the instant 'attack' of later larger drum brakes but it can work well, the one on my 1953 Meteor was capable of locking the front wheel with sufficient lever pressure! Your braking technique may need to be a bit more 1950s too, the rear brake is very good and pilots of the day used more rear and less front than modern bikes.

REgards, Mark

Thank you all for your posts.
Careful stripping and checking (and against the parts book!) it is!

I'll let you know how it goes (not until it warms up a bit though!)

Dave

Adrian, have you got drawings, measurements or photos of the 4 leading shoe conversion?

Sadly, not much - photos were on the French RE forum, but the picture hosting website that they were using tends to dump their images after 12 months if no-one looks at them, and I only managed to find this one still up.







As far as I remember the clever French guy responsible used custom brake plates machined from solid alloy, cams and cut-down linkages from a couple of Indian Bullet TLS brakes and two sets of modified 6" alloy brake shoes.



I could send him a message on the French forum and see if he still has all the info if anyone is interested.



A.

Try again.

One more go, it doesn't seem to like my html code.

How embarrassing.



One of these should get you to it.



http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/201 ... nf5048.jpg



http://www.imageupload.co.uk/image/EmM6