Forum

[Marko]

Hi everyone I have a bit of a problem. The brakes on my Connie, double sided 6" ones, are relatively ok and perform reasonably well, the problem is I have arthritis and some days I really struggle when it comes to operating the front brake. Other than making sure everything is operating as it should (it is by the way) are there any items (different linings on the brake shoes perhaps?) anyone can think of that might make life easier? I do have a spare indian made 7" hub & TLS brake plate hanging around - is that any better/easier to use? What work is involved in fitting one of these hubs? If anyone can enlighten me regarding any of the above i'd be very greatful, many thanks, best regards, Mark

[stinkwheel]

I have used Japanese brake levers before with some success to increase the power of a drum brake. They have a pivot point further from the bar making them generate much more leverage. There are a few of the mid 80's twinshock trailies that still used a front drum brake but I'm currently using a flipped over GPZ500 clutch lever for the front brake on my bullet. It would probably take a degree of modification to fit the twin cables. Span adjustable too.



You also get hydraulic clutch conversions which have a slave cylinder that bolts on in place of the cable termination at the engine end. These effectively pull a standard barrel nipple. I've always wondered if it would be possible to fit one (or in your case, two) of these in place of a drum brake cable and use a hydraulic master cylinder. Venhill stock them.



www.venhill.co.uk/media/downloads/HymecSelection.pdf



Heavy duty brake cable also makes a difference. I had a mate make up a brake cable for my Jawa out of car handbrake cable once and it was awesome compared to standard.

May also be worth contacting your local branch of NABD, this kind of thing is pretty much what they exist for and they will have access to a huge knowledge base for modifying bikes.



The setup for the double hubs and a bullet TLS doesn't look terribly dissimilar. I suppose it's the over locknut distance that's critical. Since you have both hubs, you could measure it. If the spindle is the same diameter and the distance between the nuts is the same, the hub will fit in the forks. Then you just need to see if the anti-torsion lug fits. Remember though, the TLS drums aren't really anything to write home about either so you might just be swapping the frying pan for the fire.

[Dennis C]

Hi Marko, the brake can be good,I have also improved mine by changing the bar lever, measure the centre of the pivot to the centre of the pin that the cables fit to, it will probably be 1 1/8 inch, if it is fit a Triumph type that measures 7/8 inch, you will get a far easier to use brake.

[Marko]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated. I tried the cheapest option 1st and borrowed a brake lever from my Triumph (7/8" between centres of pivot and nipple), surprisingly by doing so it has made the brakes easier to operate with my sometime dodgy hand. Why this makes the brake easier to operate I do not know - all I can say is that it works so thanks Denis for suggesting it. I gave the bike a few fierce runs up the end of the road and back and I was happy with the way the brake worked - its as good now (or as bad - depending on your point of view) as the 7" brake setup on my Triumph.. I can live with that. What drove me nuts is a magneto/carb problem which seems to be happening when accelerating hard - the engine will spit, then die, refuse to restart. A while later, after having wheeled the b%$£&^d bike home it will start as if nothing was wrong, this has happened 3 times now.. have any of you ever been tempted to throw a hammer at your Royal Enfield? I'm very tempted

[Dennis C]

it's all down to leverage, the shorter distance gives around 25% more pull for the same effort. The other sounds like carb to me.

[Marko]

Cheers Dennis, yes the other problem is more than likely carb... a few responses are helping me..i'll get there.. just so frustrated at the moment as I want this bike to be spot on.. i'll get there if it bloody kills me! The brakes BTW are good did I mention that before? Slowly but surely going potty