Forum

[Retro]

"Hi Revband. As Homer Simpson would say; D'oH!! Many thanks for pointing that out and of course you're right, it should read 'slacken off' not 'tighten'. No excuse - but I was at work and brain said one thing but fingers decided on another! Cheers, R.

[Retro]

Hi MickB. I was very glad that Revband picked up my mistake concerning final brake adjustment - to slacken, not tighten!. Do hope that it's not confused you too much. R

[MickB]

Hi Retro. Thanks for the reply, some good information. Belt and braces stuff for seasoned veterans but sometimes it's the belt and braces stuff that's missing from the manuals. My Bullet's a 2012 G5 and it is fitted with the shorter brake arm, 11.5cms, so the longer arm should make quite a difference. Mick.

[Retro]

Hi Mick.
I Was wondering if you had fitted the longer rear brake arm and done the brake plate adjustment yet. 'Am interested to hear if its improved the 'stopping' for you, it certainly made a big difference to mine. Cheers, R

[MickB]

Hi Retro, only just ordered the brake arm plus quite a few other bits and pieces as Doris is due for service and a good seeing to. As soon as it's done I will let you know; any improvement has got to be better than what I have at the moment! Mick.

[Paulk]

Rich,

Just thought I'd mention even though you are intending to fit a longer actuating arm unless to get the pivot "centred" (locked up or floating) you will not get the most benefit - and to do that you'll have to have the brake apart. The bolts that attach the pivot housing/bush are on the inside - unlike BSA's and Triumph's.

[scotty]

I was told way back that the brake drum lever had to be slightly back from vertical to get maximum mechanical adva tage too far back you are virtually shortening the lever same if too far forward, thats what the splines are for. Same applys to spanners right angle gives most tightening. Used to have the info in old mc books.

[ric]

If anyone ever gets fed up with trying to overcome the inadequacies of the OEM rear drum brake, Sommer Motorradtechnik produce a solid aluminium rear brake plate for the RE where the pivot pin and brake cam come correctly located in fixed positions to provide superior braking performance straight out of the box. Does take the fun out of things though...

[Revband]

"where the pivot pin and brake cam come correctly located in fixed positions to provide superior braking".

If only it was that easy?, Any difference or uneven wear on the linings would soon put paid to that, that's why the fulcrum needs to be able to move.

[Martin C]

I'm surprised to hear of inadequate rear brakes, because my 2002 Bullet (with HMC GT cafe-racer kit) has always been able to lock the rear wheel on a dry road at any speed. Perhaps this is due to it having the Hitchcock's rear-sets fitted as part of the GT cafe-racer kit? With regard to some of the comments about the angle of the rear brake operating arm, the "included angle" between the operating arm and the brake rod should be a little less than 90 degrees with the brake fully on. If the angle is greatly different in either direction then the brake cannot work as effectively, this is simply due to how levers function. A longer brake arm will of course improve the leverage at the shoes and thus improve the brake.