Topic: Do these look worn out? Brake shoes

[VTCBike750]

Hmmmm? They're 7 mm thick.

[CycleRanger]

Yes.

[VTCBike750]

Well thats a bummer.   

[CycleRanger]

Not really, stopping is a good thing! 

Even if they had more meat left on them they look original and that means they're probably glazed and hard as a rock anyway.
New shoes aren't that expensive.

[MCRider]

Not really, stopping is a good thing! 

Even if they had more meat left on them they look original and that means they're probably glazed and hard as a rock anyway.
New shoes aren't that expensive.

Yeah that's the point, too old, regardless of meat on the bone.

That's become the problem with restorng a CB. 20 years ago, it was still good to have a low mileage project. Now mileage doesn't matter so much, the age has turned so much of the soft bits, rubber, brake pads, shock and fork oil, cable innards, wiring, etc into dust, rock, muck, and boat anchorage.

[VTCBike750]

Thats a good point. I never even considered them being too hard. I decided to take a look after I noticed the rear wheel had some slight resistance spinning through 90 degrees . Almost like 1 shoe was touching before the other in one spot. Im just hoping the hub isnt oval shaped 

Ive been slowly swapping out old rubber parts (tach oil seal, oil pump o-rings, countershaft bearing o-ring, etc  . Greased my speedo and tach cables the other day, but still getting shaky readings. Planning on changing those out too.

Any suggestions on who makes a quality aftermarket brake shoe.

[VTCBike750]

Not really, stopping is a good thing! 

No argument there!

[CycleRanger]

For the rear EBC shoes are ok. (imho)

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Brake-Shoes-EBC-320--Honda-1329.aspx

[MCRider]

VTCbike: about the "oval shape". There is some play in the system. It is poddible to have less than the optimum amount of shoe touching the drum.

Try this. Loosen the axle nut enough to make this possible. Engage the brake fully by stepping on the pedal, or removing the arm and doing it by hand. This will center the brake plate into the hub, and the most amount of shoe touching the drum as possible.  While keeping the brake engaged, tighten the axle nut. Now spin the wheel and see how it sounds, feels.

Back when drums were the prevalent brake, shops would do what's called "arcing". They put the brake/wheel assemblyinto a special brake lathe, or something like that and turn the hub and "arc" the shoes to fit. Becuse of the comeback of out old bikes RaceTEch is doing it agiain, though its pricey.

http://www.racetech.com/HTML_FILES/BrakeArcing.html

[VTCBike750]

I sort of did that when I first reassembled things, just didnt HOLD the brake down when I tightened the axle nut. Should of just forked over the money then and bought new shoes. Im also probably over analyzing it.

Now an ever deeper question... what about radiusing the shoes before hand?  Can't you just slowly break them in? I read Bodi's idea about using sand paper glued in the hub and running the rear wheel.

[MCRider]

I sort of did that when I first reassembled things, just didnt HOLD the brake down when I tightened the axle nut. Should of just forked over the money then and bought new shoes. Im also probably over analyzing it.

Now an ever deeper question... what about radiusing the shoes before hand?  Can't you just slowly break them in? I read Bodi's idea about using sand paper glued in the hub and running the rear wheel.

See my last post about arcing. I had this done on the curent project but its not on the road yet.

As a shadetree mechanic, I got some benefit oon my racebike as follows: Sand and clean the drum. Istall everything. spin the wheel and engage the brake. Disassemble and see where the shoes were touching and where they didn't. Touching is the high part, you'll be surprised it may be less than 25%. And it won't wear down before it glazes over. I took a woodrasp to the high points, reassembled, rinsed and repeated about 4 or 5 times. Got the touching part to 75%. i swear it made a difference but its all seat of pants a long time ago.

[VTCBike750]

I have done it by installing the shoes and brakes, spinning the wheel and actuaet the brake, disassemble and you can see where the high spots are by the rub marks. File, sand or grind these down and repeat until most of the surface is contacting the drum. You'd be surprised how little contacts on a new shoe. Yes the high spots may wear down on their own, but in the meantime you get hot spots, hardening, glazing and poor performance. And if the high spot gets hardened from overheating, it may never wear down.  This method does not fix any problem with the drum, but it was effective for me I could tell the difference.

The braking is more progressive, not grabby, and ultimately more power.

Found one 

[MCRider]

Wow 23 seconds apart. I guess I repeat myself.   

[VTCBike750]

Haha, I knew I had read about that somewhere.  Turns out you wrote it .

Just proves that EVERYTHING is pretty much on here already.  Thanks for the help guys. 

Happy braking.

[dave500]

DONT BUY THESE!

these are the cheap david silver and others supplied cheap shoes and have no friction and dont fit unless you make them fit,i ran with genuines after these were fitted for a week or two and they work and fit as they should,,im sure there are other brands that work but these didnt.

[VTCBike750]

Awesome. Thanks. I'm thinking EBC, Vesrah, or going OEM.
Lending towards spending the money and going oem