BRAKES !

Laverda SF

Laverda SF

Hero member
Your darn right to be scared because of brakes are a real factor when racing. Acceleration becomes secondary - Loved my Dual Shoe Drum BREV's on my 70 750 SF0 mainly because they where efficient when things got wet compared to slippery Discs.

Granted speeds are a lot higher today ?

Cloud bursts just naturally followed me around in the Cambrian Shield of Northern Ontario.

Granted my favorite ride was a 70 750 SF0 Breganzie Twin capable of doing 7800rpm @ 350Lb plus my weight at 138 lbs - I was always fighting hydroplaning in the rain.

I really liked my 11" BREV mechanical Drum Brakes on spoke 18'" Borrani rims; however, I would not trust them over 125 mph ;o)
 
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I did 36,000 mles behind one of those drum brakes on my bought new SF1, the comparison when I converted to discs was an absolute revelation, I dont care what your name is and am not bothered if you can walk on water* or feed 5,000 on two fish and three loaves, that drum is CRAP, capital C
CLEM
*dont try this if I am fishing!
 
CLEMTOG said:
I did 36,000 mles behind one of those drum brakes on my bought new SF1, the comparison when I converted to discs was an absolute revelation, I dont care what your name is and am not bothered if you can walk on water* or feed 5,000 on two fish and three loaves, that drum is CRAP, capital C
CLEM
*dont try this if I am fishing!
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I'm very pleasantly surprised by the 230 Grimeca on the front of my S.
Now, if a car pulls out on me without notice, I could hit it whereas I might have missed it on my SF2.
Then again, I hit a car that turned in front of me 4 years back on my SF2. I would have stopped in time had I been on my 750 Aprilia.

Everything is relative.

Paul
 
Never heard of anyone hitting a car because their brakes were too good. Same as never seeing someone walk up a hill pushing their bicycle because they had too many gears. Drum lovers ... they're all yours. Ditto antivaxxers - you're welcome to it.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Never heard of anyone hitting a car because their brakes were too good. Same as never seeing someone walk up a hill pushing their bicycle because they had too many gears. Drum lovers ... they're all yours. Ditto antivaxxers - you're welcome to it.
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I'm not a drum lover, I ride old bikes warts an'all. We all do, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
If I had a pre war hand gear change bike, I'd use it and not just for the occasional outing.

Have you talked to your shrink about drums and vaccines?

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
I'm not a drum lover, I ride old bikes warts an'all. We all do, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
If I had a pre war hand gear change bike, I'd use it and not just for the occasional outing.

Have you talked to your shrink about drums and vaccines?

Paul
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It would be really easy to fit up and down quickshifter to a hand gear change bike.
Quentin is a drummer, so he hasn't completely dumped them, although his latest set were electronic.
 
Really don't see the issues that so many have with big drums. Both Grimeca and Laverda 230mm items can be fettled to be quite fierce. I even had to tone down a 1st series Laverda front drum recently, it would lock the wheel quite easily. I had previously overhauled it with new bushes and levers to eliminate slop and had the shoes re-lined. The shoes machined to suit the drum diametre, the brake worked fine from the moment it was fitted, gradually getting ever stronger, but grabby as well. A long chamfer at both leading edges of the linings cured the grabbiness.

Lots of cable set ups I find fitted with replacement Grimeca 4LS are complete crap, cable routing and lever geometry often creating a totally useless lump of metal in the front wheel that only generates heat.

piet
 
No doubt a big drum brake can be fettled to work well - but it means the brake needs constant attention and most will not have this front of mind - me included, covering 100,000km on my SF1 before I fitted a 4LS TZ brake. I never considered the drum internals as part of my routine maintenance, other than ensuring there was pad material.

There's no getting around the fact that a 220kg moto is going to test a drum front brake in various situations both on the road and on the track.
 
CLEMTOG said:
if drums were as good as discs we would still see them on 200MPH bikes
CLEM
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Nobody said they were as good as discs Clem. I just pointed out that if one wanted the best performance, be it from brakes or otherwise, we wouldn't be riding our 1912 Humbers which give us so much pleasure.

ABS is now mandatory on new bikes, must we junk our Humbers?

I even pointed out that I hit a car with my SF2 which I would have avoided with my Aprilia and it's big discs and 4 pot calipers with ABS.

The 230 mm Grimeca at the front of my S is excellent, particularly as I set it up and is quite sufficient for normal riding but it ain't worth 2 four pots with ABS the day when.....

Paul, who'll be out riding his 1952 (ish) Falcone on Sunday.
 
One time when leaving town I hit full throttle for a second or 2 in 1st when a young (Say a 1 1/2 year old 90 lb) German Shepard suddenly darted out in my path. No room to Hi-Side and miss so I hit my BREV Mechanical Drum Brakes. I did a front wheel stand at approx 50 mph, lifted my ass off the seat with my knees pinned against the bars. She STOPPED abruptly almost throwing me over the bike then the rear wheel fell back onto the asphalt and that young German Shepard was frozen inches in front of me. I point my finger at that mut a screamed: "AH!, You could have killed both of us."

You are not the fastest mover then a FOX.

I loved my Perrili Rayon Belted Super Comp Radials ;o)

Dare any Motorcycle Co. Name their Motorcycle the "FOX" !
 
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