- Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:58 am
#9061
Just something I'm pondering. After an article in one of the REOC magazines, I'm giving serious consideration to converting my 350 bullet to a slightly more offroad bias and throwing it at a couple of classic trials. The main thing (other than the clutch which has been covered in detail) is the standard TLS front brake.
I've got it working relatively well after years of fiddling but one thing it is absolutely hopeless for is working backwards to hold the bike on a steep hill. Now to the best of my knowledge, that's just a function of the type of brake rather than anything to do with its setup. When working backwards, it becomes a twin trailing shoe and tries to cam both shoes off the drum. So a borderline effective TLS becomes utterly useless when asked to work backwards. Such has been the case with any of the TLS bikes I've ridden in the past, even my Dads old kawasaki triple that could do stoppies but was incapable of holding itself on the front brake going up a bike ramp.
Normally this isn't an issue because you hold it on the rear brake but looking at some of the stop-start stations on classic trials, you pretty much need to put both feet down (or you'd need to at my skill level). Got me idly wondering if there was some way of converting it to a SLS front brake. If there was a plate I could retro-fit or even if I could so something as simple (or monumentally stupid?) as removing the brake link rod then fitting a slightly fatter block in place of the "slave" brake cam so the shoes pivot on that end and spread at the other, effectively converting the TLS to SLS.
Yes, the ultimate solution would be to retro-fit a disc but if I was into an easy life, I'd buy a Yamaha TT225 and use that.
I've got it working relatively well after years of fiddling but one thing it is absolutely hopeless for is working backwards to hold the bike on a steep hill. Now to the best of my knowledge, that's just a function of the type of brake rather than anything to do with its setup. When working backwards, it becomes a twin trailing shoe and tries to cam both shoes off the drum. So a borderline effective TLS becomes utterly useless when asked to work backwards. Such has been the case with any of the TLS bikes I've ridden in the past, even my Dads old kawasaki triple that could do stoppies but was incapable of holding itself on the front brake going up a bike ramp.
Normally this isn't an issue because you hold it on the rear brake but looking at some of the stop-start stations on classic trials, you pretty much need to put both feet down (or you'd need to at my skill level). Got me idly wondering if there was some way of converting it to a SLS front brake. If there was a plate I could retro-fit or even if I could so something as simple (or monumentally stupid?) as removing the brake link rod then fitting a slightly fatter block in place of the "slave" brake cam so the shoes pivot on that end and spread at the other, effectively converting the TLS to SLS.
Yes, the ultimate solution would be to retro-fit a disc but if I was into an easy life, I'd buy a Yamaha TT225 and use that.
