onsdag 16 mars 2011

Dual Cam Springer Brake

The dual cam Springer brake has been a bit debated lately, so are they better than the single cam brake or complete crap?

My personal experience is; the one to the right is the terrible one that makes people talk shit about them, I spent days timing the cams trying to dial it just right, I switched brake shoes, I even got the brake shoes relined. And still, all it ever gave me was a slight feeling of acceleration when hitting it = the one to the right is complete shit. *Note the differerences between the left and right brake's shoes.

The brake to the left in this pic on the other hand is the good one, acctually the very best Springer brake I've ever had, but it took a few tricks; I had to mount it in an original brake drum, then reline and grind the shoes to fit. Note how the shoes pivots at totally different locations, there's quite a few more differences that may be hard to tell from looking at the photos but there's just NO comparesion when it comes to braking performance.

Here's the good one mounted on the FLTT after I got the shoes relined, grinded and fitted in an original brake drum. Also, every aftermarket wire I've tried stretched like a rubber band and never really stopped stretching giving the brake that spongy feeling. A NOS wire will do miracles here.

After timing the cams and dialing it in perfectly this brake setup will still need a few miles to get that 100% solid/consistent feeling. So if you're about to get one of these brakes, at least now you know my limited but hopefully helpful experience about them...

9 kommentarer:

  1. Who makes the better style of the two? Or where are they sold? Thanks

    SvaraRadera
  2. Kevin, sorry to say I have no idea, I got one off a running bike and the other one from a swapmeet. I know Matt & Dean did get one not too long ago, I think it's on Matts' Panhead? I'm pretty sure they know who made that one ...Maby check that one out and see, you might just get lucky?

    SvaraRadera
  3. You got a great eye for details

    SvaraRadera
  4. Looks like the good one is from Flatland Motorcycles

    https://www.flatlandmotorcyclecompany.com/45partsdepot/catalog.php?product_id=143797&number=1

    Andy

    SvaraRadera
  5. Andy;
    Thanx for the link - it sure looks to be the one.

    Sprocket;
    I beg to differ, after looking at these photos I had to take the wheel back off again and get the star cover and wheel spacer parkerized, it looked terrible painted black.

    SvaraRadera
  6. I have the same dual brake and have had good results with the same methods. Found it essential to re-line the shoes as the original ones are hard as asphalt!
    Gave up with the repop front cables after finding a heavy clutch cable from a modern bike, now no stretch.

    SvaraRadera
  7. Hi,
    I am selling two types of those dual cams brakes.
    The one on the left - with longer shoes brake as original was the old design and I was asked to modify it

    So the NEW one is the one on the right - with the shorter braking shoes.

    So now you confirm that I should return to OLD desing with longer braking shoes?
    And I have to agree the shoes line is poor quality...need to find different supplier

    I also make aluminium cooling rings for the front drum

    SvaraRadera
  8. So Right or left??

    SvaraRadera
  9. Hi,
    I realize that noone ever read blogs anymore, and that this is the ghosttown part of the internet. But for you other weirdoes still reading (especially this blogs) blog posts for deeper insight in your old piles of rust like me, V-twin sells the version to the left:
    https://vtwin.parts/supplier/v-twin/classic-pre-1984/brake/backing-plate/kits/harley-davidson-indian-motorcycle-v-twin-dual-cam-brake-assembly-black-49-0853

    Cherio miss Sophie.

    SvaraRadera