Need help identifying Grimeca brakes

E

evcomet

New member
Location
Georgia, USA
A few years ago I acquire an original 1969 built Egli Comet. The machine was fitted with Grimeca 4LS front brakes and a 2LS Grimeca rear brake.
My searches have produced plenty of pics of 1968 & 1969 Laverda 750 with similar looking brakes, but not a 4LS front.

What I would like to know is if 4LS Grimeca brakes were ever available on a Laverda, or any other machine.

I am in the process of fitting an original Ceriani brake to the rear and have already refurbished and fitted a Ceriani 4LS  to the front of my Egli. My hope is to offer these wheels and brakes for sale in the future, but not until I get my replacement fitted.

Jerry
 

Attachments

  • Grimeca 4LS front brake 1.jpg
    Grimeca 4LS front brake 1.jpg
    278.2 KB · Views: 41
There was never originaly a 4 LS at the front of a 750 Laverda, nor was there a 2 LS Grimeca on the back.

There was a single leading shoe 230mm Grimeca on the back of the pre SF 750s and a 230mm 2 LS Grimeca on the front of early GTs and the S.

Paul
 
I remember stock from a defunct danish dealer arriving at Moto Witt in the '90s, there were 230mm 4LS Grimeca brake plates amoung that pile and iIrc, they carried Laverda part #s.  Needless to say, I secured a set for myself, but I no longer have the tags with the numbers. 

piet
 
Paul Marx said:
There was never originally a 4 LS at the front of a 750 Laverda, nor was there a 2 LS Grimeca on the back.

Paul
Click to expand...

Paul,

I accept your answer.
My question is, what was the application for a 4Ls front brake?The brake I have is clearly a 4LS brake.
The brake plates are LH and RH.

 
evcomet said:
Paul,

I accept your answer.
My question is, what was the application for a 4Ls front brake?The brake I have is clearly a 4LS brake.
The brake plates are LH and RH.
Click to expand...

I'm not certain that it was standard fitting on any large Italian production machine. Would have been the 60s. Can't remember seing one. Maybe it was always an after market solution?

Paul
 
Hi Jerry - i used to race with an original (1970's I think) Grimeca double 2Ls brake - some call it a 4LS brake. Photo shows this original. i sold plenty of the later versions (very similar)in the nineties, but yours looks to be even earlier. The laverda ones are 230mm (9"). Can't remember seeing any as std fitment on the Laverdas. - Regards - Phil
 

Attachments

  • Cadwell 1987.jpg
    Cadwell 1987.jpg
    214.1 KB · Views: 51
phil37 said:
Hi Jerry - i used to race with an original (1970's I think) Grimeca double 2Ls brake - some call it a 4LS brake. Photo shows this original. i sold plenty of the later versions (very similar)in the nineties, but yours looks to be even earlier. The laverda ones are 230mm (9"). Can't remember seeing any as std fitment on the Laverdas. - Regards - Phil
Click to expand...

Hi Phil

The photos are the earlier finned Grimeca Phil, only fitted on the rear as 200mm SLS on the very early bikes.
And yes, double sided 2LS are often refered to as 4 LS.

Paul
 
Hi Jerry,

if you will use the brake on the road, you should check the fins from time to time.

When i got my 69 American Eagle from Oregon, I found the drum welded and each fin has a crack at the end.

During a visit to Brettoni, he told me that cracks at the Grimeca brake were more frequent at that time. Maybe that was the reason to develop an own brake.
Fortunately, Brettoni had an original new brake drum in the basement.

Not everything in the past was as good as we think today. Even the first SF brakes had sometimes defects in the aluminum casting (see last picture of one of the first SF-brakes)

Best Thomas aus LAU

IMG_3111_klein.jpg

IMG_3113_klein.jpg

IMG_3115_klein.jpg

IMG_3116_klein.jpg







 
I had a ride in a Bultaco road race bike with a TZ 4 leader, it was like having a long rope tied to a tree. Nothing much happened at first and then suddenly I almost continued over the bars. Don't know how many stops like that it had before getting too hot and fading but bloody hell you needed to be aware of how strong it was.The bike had a homemade pipe and had one hell of a power band and needed good brakes, huge fun in an upmarket suburb of Sydney on a Sunday morning, no rego to boot. 2 laps of the block and it got put away before the cops arrived
 
@Thomas aus LAU
Your drum pictures are frightening! Thankfully I have found no cracks, .....yet.




 

Attachments

  • Rear Grimeca Brake.jpg
    Rear Grimeca Brake.jpg
    178.5 KB · Views: 23
  • 1969 Laverda.jpg
    1969 Laverda.jpg
    95.4 KB · Views: 28
Back in the 70s my brother Tim had a Kawasaki Mk III 500 triple. The original drum brake was a bit underwhelming so he scrounged a massive Robinson drum brake from somewhere, and laced that into the wheel. I think it may have been 4 leading shoe double sided which would make it 8 LS like the brake pictured below. The bloody drum was so big that the spokes only ended up being about 3" long!

It was a pretty good stopper. Easily on a par with the disks of that era. But like the TZ brake on the Bultaco that Vince described, the servo effect was a bit too strong. It was OK at 160 kph, but at low speed you had to be very careful not to lock up the front wheel with one finger pressure on the lever. It was even worse in wet weather. Riding on a wet road is the time when you want nice progressive braking action. But for some reason, any dampness in the air made the bloody thing jam on hard with a screech at the slightest touch of the lever. Suffice to say it was "character building" to ride that thing in the city on a wet day.
 

Attachments

  • attachment.jpg
    attachment.jpg
    146.8 KB · Views: 29
I had the TZ 4-leader (double sided - 8-leader??!!) and it was never touchy until some wear had set in. In fact it had loads of feel and was very powerful when needed - could easily squeeze the brakes  and squeal the front tyre at any speed. i raced on it at Wanneroo with zero probs, but on the Bunbury street circuit it did fade (mind you, I had no rear brake then, as the new black linings had bound - so I removed the shoes for the 2nd race!). Maybe they suited the heavier bike?

I had a race-prep guru reline (green linings) them and set them up properly. I loved those brakes, but when the cast drum liner again started to separate on the second hub, I decided to go to discs.

My original SF rear brake had to be repaired when the wheel bearing housing stretched and the bearing would drop out ... soft Laverda alloy again?! Had a steel ring fitted around it.
 
evcomet said:
A few years ago I acquire an original 1969 built Egli Comet. The machine was fitted with Grimeca 4LS front brakes and a 2LS Grimeca rear brake.
My searches have produced plenty of pics of 1968 & 1969 Laverda 750 with similar looking brakes, but not a 4LS front.

What I would like to know is if 4LS Grimeca brakes were ever available on a Laverda, or any other machine.

I am in the process of fitting an original Ceriani brake to the rear and have already refurbished and fitted a Ceriani 4LS to the front of my Egli. My hope is to offer these wheels and brakes for sale in the future, but not until I get my replacement fitted.

Jerry
Click to expand...
Jerry
Did you end up selling the grimeca brake.?
Regards
Pat
 
1200ts said:
I wish that Laverda had fitted the 4 shoe brake to the twins. The 2 shoe front brake on my early twins can't stop anything!
Click to expand...
You have it badly set up and a double brake wouldn't be any better.
Can't stop anything multiplied by two still doesn't stop anything.

Paul
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top