Misc: Everything Else Brakes, Linings, Drums and Shoes

bmetcalf

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Did they go to disc brakes because the drum brake calculations were too difficult?
 

Matty

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Hi
Have sent my old brake shoes to saftec to have "woven" linings fitted and found that one of my shoes has the hooked spring lug broken off, probably by myself many years ago ( have had it since 1956 and done over 100,000 miles). I had drilled a hole for the spring into the shoe and it had worked fine for around 50 years but I may get a friend to weld a lug on like the new ones.
I was going to buy a new one but find that ONE SHOE without the lining is £148 so will make do with my old one repaired.
A pair of shoes with the spring and no linings is £278 and they had to have new moulds made etc. because the old tools can not be used to make them.
OUCH !!
 

davidd

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You were experimenting with some other linings a few months back; did you ever decide if you liked it better than GGW? May have been the Porterfield RD-4 linings? Did you ever try GGA to form an opinion of it?

It is all a matter of usage. For racing the Vintage Brake 2520V or RD-4 from Porterfield are excellent. These linings need heat to achieve the best performance. Both are very resistant to fade.

For the street, the GGW seems to be the first choice of Vincent owners in the East, but it is probably due to Industrial Brake & Clutch being so easy to deal with. I was hoping that they could supply GGA also, but they will not. This is the problem with brake liners, you have to quiz them about what they can do. Additionally, I can't test something that I cannot get mounted. I think the GGA and Ferotech's 2930 are worth testing, but I have not been able to find brake services that supply them. Dick Hunt in the UK supplies 2930. There was at least one Vincent owner from NZ that recommended Ferotec in earlier discussions.

Did they go to disc brakes because the drum brake calculations were too difficult?

There may be some truth to that! There is no servo action with disc brakes, so the geometry is not as much of a mystery. However, the lack of servo action means that hydraulics is necessary for decent actuation. They also are more resistant to fade from heat because they cool down much quicker than drums.

David
 

timetraveller

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When a drum gets hot it expands away from the shoes. When a disc gets hot it slightly expands towards the pads but probably more at right angles to them. The discs also have a large surface are in direct contact with the air whereas a drum has to pass the heat through the drum to the outside for cooling. It seems to me that these things must have some importance in making a choice.
 

Mikeant

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When I was racing vintage Nortons in the 70s it was not much of a problem to get speed but the real difficulty was stopping the bikes. The problem as noted is the heat. Two pull ups at the hairpin at Cadwell and the lever was against the twistgrip as the drum had expanded. The interim solution was an inline clutch adjuster hidden behind the racing plate which was used to lengthen the outer whilst lying on the tank at almost 100mph down the Park straight! Next I used an old rear drum and turned what was left of the teeth off but leaving the stiffening ridge. Others shrunk stiffening bands over their drums. An improvement, but the final solution was a stiffer back plate, careful centralisation of the shoes to address the issues discussed above and finally a big air scoop. Discs were about at the time but of course were not permitted under vintage racing rules, However I recall that with my with my Honda 550 you had to be careful if the disc got wet as initially the brake did not do a lot, then suddenly gripped which was not a good idea on a wet road with tyres as they were then.
 

Matty

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Have looked in mph for the new v3 brake drums but can not find the advertisement, could Martyn G point me in the right direction please, because this may be another option.
By the way, the last set of linings were from Villiers who had made a beautiful job of the relining a couple of years ago, but after 3000miles or so the front brake was still very poor- they were not woven or green !!
So these are going on the back while I try some woven front ones from safetec on the front, If they work I will put woven ones from Safetec on the back as well.
 

BigEd

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VOC Forum Moderator
The V3 add is in the back of the January 2020 issue. #852.
The brake drums are listed at AU$280 approximately £106.00. It doesn't mention postage. etc.
 

Matty

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Thanks for the information about the brake drums, but will try the "woven " linings first when they come back from Safetec.
When I look at the price of new brake shoes, or drums at hundreds of Pounds, I remember that I only bought the Comet in 1956 for £147 as a way to get to work !!
It has been used on and off ever since and never off the road, though did not get a lot of use in the 70s and 80s
Matty
 
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