H: Hubs, Wheels and Tyres Brake Plates

[Kiwi_Tim]

I'm in the process of putting my first Vincent, a late series C shadow back on the road. It has finned lightning brakes including the genuine magnesium plates. I've seen threads rubbishing these as too dangerous to use but they are in good order, so will initially be retained as they are what I have. In a short test ride they certainly performed well. What other front brake plate options do I have that would be comparable in performance to these?

 

[chankly bore]

I wouldn't trust 65 year old magnesium plates as far as I could throw them! Flog them on Greedybay with an ironclad safety disclaimer and buy something from the Netherlands that works.

 

[timetraveller]

Interesting looking bike. It has Lightning carb adaptors and the ribbed brake drums were used on Black Shadows as well as Black Lightnings. You have a lot of other choices now, probably more than at any other time since Vincents were made. There are the 7" twin leading shoe brakes from Vincent Speet in the Netherlands. You can get machined from solid aluminium brake plates to fit the brakes you already have. You can replace the whole lot with 8" diameter drums with brake plates like the previous but larger and if you really feel adventurous there are 8" twin leading shoe brakes. Of course you could also fit discs. PM me if you want an introduction to the chap who makes most of these.

 

[Kiwi_Tim]

Appreciate the feedback, I'll probably try and keep it on the 7" drums, so will contact vincent@VSM
The bikes history prior to being rebuilt from a wreck at the beginning of the eighties is unknown although there in some interesting anecdotal background that I've been unable to verify.

 

[Spqreddie]

You can buy aluminum alloy replica plates from different sources and keep all your internals.

 

[Kiwi_Tim]

I'll look into that too, the magnesium ones work well, so if I can swap out the plates for an alloy equivalent without too much pain that would probably head the options list. The bikes not yet back on the road but should be very soon, mainly peripherals need sorting and re-registration

 

[davidd]

The Electron brake plates had a useful life of 8 years. So, if they are older than that you are running a great risk. Unfortunately, the reason for the short life was the contaminants in the metal itself. This results in internal corrosion that causes the metal to corrode where you cannot spot it. Modern metals have many fewer contaminants.

I have not broken the front plates, but the brake anchors on both the left and right rear plates broke out of the plates on the Grey Flash while being raced. Anytime a brake stay fails it can be disaster. I changed to aluminum plates for safety reasons, front and rear.

It is a nice looking bike, so best of luck with it.

David

 

[chankly bore]

I don't want to make you nervous, as you have a bike that looks eminently USEABLE, but warnings also apply to old brake drums, specifically cracking around the mounting bolts and sprocket flange(s) of the rear ones. They were a good design, especially the Shadow ones, but the two Phil's could not have foreseen such a long design life. Check for loose outer bearing races there while you're at it mate. Good riding!

 

[deejay499]

The VSM kit comes with new wider finned drums and wider brake shoes. Could probably lock the front wheel on my outfit, but generally good and progressive.

 

[kettlrj]

I have just fitted a set of the club shop 8" brakes to my Rapide and I now have a pair of cast Aluminium plates for sale complete with shoes. drop me a line at enginecad@Hotmail.com for details and pics if you are interested.
On the subject of the 8" brakes, I have some problems with fitting these. First of all is that they fouled the lugs at the bottom of the Brampton forks, so I was forced to take a file to them and remove quite a bit of material.
The other problem was that only the left hand side brake arm was moving when applying the brake.. Investigation showed that either the cam was too short or the boss on the brake plate was too long and when the brake arm was tightened on to the serrated washer, the washer was clamped hard against the brake plate. I had to strip out the cam and the only solution was to machine a 1/32" from the face that abuts the inside of the brake plate. So if you are fitting any of these brakes, please check that the brake arms move freely after being fitted.