H: Hubs, Wheels and Tyres Balance Beam/Long Cable

[fogrider]

The long brake cable on my B twin was on the R/H side. Looking at photo's in KTB, some early B's seem to be like that. However, it's a really tight curve for the cable so I set to and swapped it over, long cable to left. Much sweeter cable action, but it makes the long cable lower than the short on the beam. The book advice is that the long cable should sit slightly higher than the short one. So my query is - what difference does it make having the long cable higher than the short ? Does it really matter ?

Regards all

 

[vibrac]

Be Very careful if it loops over the top of the LH fork link.
Hit a pot hole, up go the forks, up goes the cable, up goes the brake arm, on go the brakes ,down you come!
It happened to a good friend of mine Hospital beckoned...

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

I agree with vibrac

On girdraulics the long brake cable goes across over the forks from the brake lever to the LH side of the bike.
On Bramptons and long brake cable goes down the RH side and is slightly shorter than the long cable used on Girdraulics. I don't believe this cable is available so you have to shorten a Girdraulic brake cable or get one made up to fit.

If you use the longer brake cable intended for Girdraulic use on Bramptons and cross over the top of the Bramptons and down the LH side then when the Bramptons are on full compression, say from hitting a pot hole, then the brake cable can tangle with the top of the Bramptons and the ends of the spindles and in worst case lock the brake on hard and down you go. Its up to you but in my opinion using the wrong brake cable on Bramptons i.e. across the top of the Brampton's can be very dangerous.

This is the correct route for Bramptons:

 

[greg brillus]

If you want the correct cables to do this set up, contact Neal Videan.........he has made a variety of cables to suit the different forks.

 

[fogrider]

Thanks all for the above, as only one long cable is shown in the spares list, I assumed it could be fitted L or R. There's no way it will go the way Simon shows in the photo's, way too long. Safety issue I did'nt spot. Very good point.
Cable change required me-thinks.
Still not sure why the cable heights on the beam are mentioned, I suppose its' to do with the centralising without the stop peg the C's benefit from.
Still hoping to get him to the Bawtry meet.
Regards all......

 

[LoneStar]

On a somewhat related note, does anyone have a good scheme for installing a balance beam stop on Brampton forks?

 

[Marcus Bowden]

I've always used a a coil spring pulling the balance beam onto a hose clip around the tube (stainless of cause). Simple and easy as there is nowhere to fit an eccentric

 

[chankly bore]

A Jubilee clip in the right place on the fork tube works well as a stop. Two other observations: Drilling four small holes on the cable adjuster larger thumb nut is a good way to fit a return spring- the balance beam should not be drilled, or so a real engineer told me! Also, some cables from the Spares Co. have too little inner cable length, such that the angle formed between the cable and the brake arm is over 90° when the brakes are applied. Further clarification: The remarks about the thumb nut drilling for the spring apply to alloy plates only. Anyone using original pattern steel plates can use FF74/1 return spring if long cable is on the left, or FF74/2 if long cable is on the right. If you're using 70 year old steel plates, then Good Luck!

 

[erik]

In the last MPH you can se a grey flash with girdraulics and the brake cable on the right ! Erik

 

[davidd]

In the last MPH you can se a grey flash with girdraulics and the brake cable on the right !

True! All of the production Grey Flashes appear to have the front long brake cable on the right as seen in Contemporaneous Factory photos. The prototypes seem to be an exception to this rule.

Cliff Venier on 2B/3407 at Daytona in 1953 or 1954. The race was canceled in 1953 and the entrants were asked to return in 1954.

David