Topic: Hub Drilling? (pic)

[DHolbrook]

Can't I drill straight down through my hub like this picture?  Wouldn't this provide better venting than just drilling the side cover?

[fastbroshi]

   Maybe so, but I'd think you'd have to have a lot more than that for it to be effective, but I'd think you'd lose some of the drums robustness in the process.   Since the shoes spread the drum outward ever so slightly while applying braking, I think more holes would allow it to expand easier, making you push harder on the pedal for more brake.  Good things can't come of it.
   Then again, I don't think you're racing it and it won't matter.  Just doing it for looks then?  Hope you're in a dry area or you don't ride in the rain much.

[Gordon]

   Maybe so, but I'd think you'd have to have a lot more than that for it to be effective, but I'd think you'd lose some of the drums robustness in the process.   Since the shoes spread the drum outward ever so slightly while applying braking, I think more holes would allow it to expand easier, making you push harder on the pedal for more brake.  Good things can't come of it.

+1

Drilled brake rotors get squeezed from both sides so reducing their rigidity probably isn't as much of an issue, but drilling the rear brake drum seems like it would significantly weaken it.  It only gets pushed on by the brake shoe from the inside.

[DHolbrook]

OK, no drilling then.  I thought drilling through the hub might vent gases without having to drill through the drum plate, which I don't really like the look of.