Effectiveness of airhead rear brake

[SJRoome]

Hi

Seeing the debate here about which foot to put down on stopping, got me thinking about the effectiveness of the airhead rear brake. On my 1989 R100 GS the rear drum brake is not all that effective so I tend to rely on the front brake. Over the years I have tried cleaning the inside of the drum, completely rebuilding the brake and new brake shoes.

I have seen a comment on a US forum that the rear brake can be made more effective by looking for the areas of wear on the shoes and filing them down in an iterative process to increase the contact area. Has anyone tried this?

Steve

 

[John Armstrong]

I found after fitting lowered pegs on my 100GS that I can stamp on the peddle much harder, and now it acts like a brake. No sliding the back wheel into corners, but it does provide more retardation than me sticking my arm out

 

[VAL. H.]

Hi

Seeing the debate here about which foot to put down on stopping, got me thinking about the effectiveness of the airhead rear brake. On my 1989 R100 GS the rear drum brake is not all that effective so I tend to rely on the front brake. Over the years I have tried cleaning the inside of the drum, completely rebuilding the brake and new brake shoes.

I have seen a comment on a US forum that the rear brake can be made more effective by looking for the areas of wear on the shoes and filing them down in an iterative process to increase the contact area. Has anyone tried this?

Steve

It's all about leverage The longer the leaver the better the reaction/efficiency.
If you adjust out as much of the free play as you can without the shoes binding, you be able to get more shoe on drum when you press the pedal.

Raising the foot plate on the leaver, or lowered foot pegs as John suggests will add to the effect.

Alternatively you could try the mod posted on here a few months ago about repositioning cable mounting point on the leaver. Or if your really clever you could design a hydraulic modification to replace the cable. Now there's a thought



Val.

 

[Wreford Miles]

I've just had my rear brake lever modified to bring it up level with my already lower rally pegs - I did have to bring it a little closer to the peg, to keep some carb clearance but I can now apply enough force to have a worthwhile effect and off road it'll be perfect.

 

[Sylvester]

Mine is only good for removing the rust build up from the rear drum. I still use it all the time, out of habit I supose. I find it seems to balance the bike better during braking, espesh in the wet. I'd truly love a disk at the back but then it wouldn't be an airhead. As I ride like Miss Marple these days, it doesn't seem to matter much and I have not required a change of underpants after riding for a long time now.

 

[Deleted Member MS]

Mr rear brake is also s***e.

In fact, when applied, my GS actually goes quicker ??????????


Actually, I did buy a spare lever to try the mod suggested earlier re repostioning the cable on the footlever itself.
I havent got round to trying the mod. Has anyone tried it and did it work ?????????

 

[Garry H]

My airhead's rear brake is excellent