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By JTL
#77036
Hi Adrian & Mark M... very useful info. Thank you. Any advice on how to go about building a new front wheel with a better tls drum brake than the OEM I having now on my Bullet? I'm not looking for something rare, hard to get or expensive. RE bits and pieces, spareparts etc. are all very competitive when it comes to cost and availeblity, but I'm almost sure a better front drum brake for the Bullet is out there. And it's a nice little project to work on...regards Jacob
By Mark M
#77038
Use the 7" front brake as fitted to later Bullets and 250 models, like this one from our Hosts Used Parts selection: USED228. I have done this for someone ages ago and I seem to recall you have to fit it on the right if using 'double side' forks but that's not a problem. I'll check and see if you're interested. As a brake It works very well (although not as good as a disc!) and is easy to do.

REgards, Mark
By JTL
#77049
Hi Mark...The brake part USED228 looks like a SLS brake. What makes it a better brake than the 7" TLS brake my 2003 Bullet has now?
By Mark M
#77054
JTL, it isn't a better brake than yours in theory (although the Indian ones can be a bit variable) I suggested it because Hugh the original poster wanted to replace his dual 6" brake on a Redditch bike he has restored therefore I suggested a Redditch solution. No other reason!

REgards, Mark
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By Adrian
#77055
Possibly the ultimate drum-braked Bullet came up on ebay quite a few years ago, someone had built a 612 kitted race bike and somehow managed to fit THIS into the Bullet's forks:



Image



Note the alloy brackets welded onto the sliders for the torque arms, but you could probably use the mudguard mounting lugs on a set of Electra-X fork sliders as an anchor point.



@ Jacob, sorry that has something rare, hard to get or expensive written all over it!



There has been plenty written about sorting the Indian TLS front brake. Our hosts' modification of drilling through one of the trunion adjuster threads, as given in the technical notes, is er.. controversial, Tim from NZ regularly blasts this when the subject comes up. Getting the very best out of this brake would probably involve skimming the surface of the brake drum (with the wheel fully built) on a big lathe to ensure everything is perfectly round, then fitting oversize brake linings to the brake shoes and turning them down to the exact size of the newly skimmed drum. When reassembling the brake make sure the levers are pointing in exactly the same direction when pushed onto their splines, and that the angle between the cable and the lever into which it attaches is 90° when the brake is fully applies, with both shoes hopefully biting at exactly the same time.



A.
By JTL
#77282
Hi Mark... thanks for clearing up my mistake. For a moment I thought you meant that by improving the old type front brake I could get a better brake, but of course your comment was meant for Hugh's 6" brake. Sorry... Adrian, the front brake in the picture is too nice just to look at, so you are totally forgiven for posting the picture. And you are right, it's not that kind of alternative front brake project I'm looking for. But it's nice. Actually I'm quit happy with the OEM brake I have. I just want to shorten the lenght required for stopping and without doing stoppies... regards Jacob

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