hello and looking for advise

[Gene Nehring]

Hi Glen,

Yes it would be Derek's old Comet. I had the pleasure of spending some time with Derek last weekend when I picked up the Comet. I attached a photo of the bike with Derek and I from last weekend.

I have wanted a Comet since I was 14, I would go to classic and vintage bike rallies in New Zealand and just look in the Vincent tent in amazment. I was very fortunate to be able to get the bike from Derek.

Cheers,

Gene.

 

[Monkeypants]

It's a good one!

Glen

 

[mercurycrest]

Eugene,

Welcome! The brake works much like a side pull brake on a bicycle. It will pull on one side and you want to adjust the other side so all of the shoes, left and right, are hitting the brake drum at the same time. To start, make sure that the cable is pulling the left and right levers on the brake at 90 degrees. Much lower or higher and you are giving up the best leverage. If you have trouble getting the lever in exactly the right spot, take the nut off and there is a serrated washer underneath. If you index it 90 degrees different, it will change the adjustment slightly. While doing the adjustment, I try and make sure that when the lever on the brake is at 90 degrees to the cable the shoes are extremely close to full on the brake, namely, the less travel in the lever on the brake the better. Once the levers on the brake plates are as good as you can get them attach the cables and see if you can adjust them so they will pull both left and right levers the very small distance so they reach full on at the same time.

You may encounter lots of little problems. The cables may be stretched or not correct. The shoes may be worn and not trued to the drums. The return spring or springs might be fighting you, you may have adjusted the levers on the brake so that the shoes on one or both sides are so close the the drum that they are on all the time. Just ask more questions and try to eliminate the problems one at a time.

Good Luck

David

After you have done this... get the front wheel off the ground, tighten the right side brake against the balance beam stop until it drags, back off two turns, now do the same with the left side adjuster. It's all a lot simpler than it reads...;-)
Cheers, John

 

[Gene Nehring]

Thanks allot guys!! I got it all balanced and working. Now for the fun part, off for a ride into my local village for coffee;-)

 

[vibrac]

Hi,

So my dream like many of you has come true and I have a acquired my first Vincent, a 1951 Comet. It was owned by an elderly gentleman who could no longer kick it over and he has passed the torch on to me.

Still we wait for a Comet electric start.....

 

[Gene Nehring]

The old owner of my bike was exactly in your position.

As a young person I want to learn from people older than myself and maybe the lessons they have learnt will be passed on to someone who has a genuine love of the machines. So as much as it pained the pervious owner of my bike to let it go, I hope to keep riding it with the same spirit he did.

cheers

Gene.

 

[vibrac]

Electric start is not just for old people....
My wife
Me in a traffic jam center of the road
etc
etc

 

[Jerry161]

Hi,

So my dream like many of you has come true and I have a acquired my first Vincent, a 1951 Comet. It was owned by an elderly gentleman who could no longer kick it over and he has passed the torch on to me.

I was out riding for the first time since buying the Comet and the front brake cable pulled off the brass end at the handle. I have repaired the cable, but I am new to the dual break set and need a layman's guide to rebalancing the break set up.

I have read some posts but I cant find a step by step guide and I don't have a copy of know thy beast. If someone could point me in the right direction or to a relevant post it would be much appreciated.

I will join the VOC as soon as I can.


Thanks,

Eugene.

View attachment 1919

For brake adjustments etc, get a copy of the Rider's Handbook.
For more info, try Paul Richardson's book 'Vincent Motorcycles'.

 

[Gene Nehring]

For sure.. ;-)