'71...spongy front brakes

[angus67]

hi guys. Just about got my friends bike ready to go back to him. but was wondering if its normal for the front brakes to be spongy.
They are mechanical, not juiced. new shoes.
I thought they would be able to lock up like the rear does, but at speed, it doesnt seem to apply any pressure. will the new shoes wear in? Ive got it adjusted so that when you spin it by hand, there is a slight drag on it, just like the back. Any ideas?

 

[jamesgs4]

That sounds about right for stock drum brakes. You can improve the drum brakes by having the shoes curved to fit the drum better, and also have the shoes relined with a better biting compound.

 

[gggGary]

Yeah drum fronts a trip down memory lane. We are truly spoiled with our disks. We forget how horrible those drums were in comparison. There were no limp wristed motorcycle riders back in the day, not for long anyways. Evolve or die.
This is supposed to be the best http://www.vintagebrake.com/ I doubt your bud has the budget for such an excursion. But a thread on setting up the early brakes to see how well they could be made to work would be interesting and informative. I would think a teflon lined cable, lathe turned shoes top notch shoe compound and serious work on every pivot and rub point for least friction would result in acceptable performance. That and regular work outs with one of those squeeze spring wrist exercisers. My poor memory sez there were 4 shoes drums at the end of the drum brake racing era? Here's an interesting front brake drum auction, read the description carefully and look at what they are willing to pay for it.
Item number: 270690647073

eBay front drum

I don't recall being able to apply enough pressure on Jap street drums to lock the front wheel on good pavement. The first street bike I owned with really good front brakes was a 1981 CB900F Even today you are in the sport bike genre before you get really good brakes.

 

[angus67]

i dont ean its stiff, and cant pull it in, I mean its spongy, and I can pull the lever all the way to the grip. It has mikes replacement cable. could be stretching? im also out of adjustment top and bottom.

 

[gggGary]

I might have heard that before. I wonder if a Motion Pro cable is better? I have used their clutch cables on big Honda 4s and liked them.

 

[gggGary]

They don't list the front brake cable but I need one or two also I could check on a group order of a custom cable from them.

http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/custom/

 

[angus67]

I rode it today. the front brakes work OK....I'll wait and see if they seat in. will prolly be fine.

 

[5twins]

The XS1 and 1B use what is called a double leading shoe front drum brake. The 2 brake arms that control the top and bottom shoe are linked by an adjustable rod. This rod needs to be adjusted so that both shoes contact the drum at the same time. If it's not, the brake won't work well at all.

 

[angus67]

I got the rod adjusted so both shoes touch. Just need to wear in?

 

[mikeoxlodge]

I'm interested in hearing how this worked out.

I will be running a front drum from an xs650 and I can use all of the information I can get.

Thank You,

Mike

 

[angus67]

thanx, mike! i will definately let you know