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[Deleted User]

@scott596 wrote:

If anyone decides to alter their brake levers to forward facing please just change the backplates and not the whole wheel as the threaded ring locking the bearing should always be on the left of the machine. Alan Noakes. scottworkshop@hotmail.co.uk

Hi Alan,
I follow what you are saying about the brake being mor efficient when the levers are facing forward but what is the reason for the locking ring always being on the left of the machine ?
In “The book of the Scott” Owners handbook there is a sectioned drawing of the twin brake front hub assembly and that shows the bearing locking ring on the right
(offside) of the machine, the side which has the wheel spindle nut on it, – on my machine at least.

Regards, Mark

[scott596]

Hi the reason is that if the locking ring ever touched any part of the backplate while the wheel was turning it could undo itself if fitted on the right but would only try to do up when fitted on the left. Alan Noakes. scottworkshop@hotmail.co.uk

[Deleted User]

Thats a good point ! thanks for that info.

Mark

[Deleted User]

The same applies to hubs with cup and cone bearings ,The adjustable cone should be on the left to avoid the rotation locking the bearing if the locknut nut should let go. Regards D F .

[chris wastell]

Of course the best way to improve the brakes is to get modern soft linings fitted. They make the world of difference 🙂

[dave bushell]

It’s interesting that the postwar Shipley Scotts, even the 1946/47 equipped with girder forks and full width, twin brake hubs, plus the Brum Scotts had the brake arms pointing rearwards. Weren’t the factory aware of the difference it made in braking efficiency? Whilst it is easy to switch the brake plates over on the Shipley Scotts, it’s not so easy on the Brums. The brake plate anchor arm bolt are difficult to insert without removing mudguard stay bolts and springing the fork leg apart slightly to enable sufficient clearance to insert the bolts, but once in, no problem. At the front, it is necessary to put 5/16″ spacers between the front mudguard stay and the fork leg mounting point in order for the stay to clear the cable adjuster lugs.
Is it worth the effort? I’ll let you know after I’ve taken the Brum out for a run.
Dave.

[scott596]

Hi David, the answer to your question is that Scotts weren`t interested in reality all they were interested in was having something that could improve sales and the brake probably looked better with rear facing brake levers so that was the way it came out of the works, the whole question of motorcycle brakes is of one maker copying another and not even questioning the technology because the performance was adequate for the time. Car makers on the other hand knew that their motorcycle type brakes were useless in the 1920s and needed a serious upgrade hence the adoption of servo type brakes where the shoes could centralise themselves. The best advice for motorcycle brakes is to centralise the brakeplate before locking up the spindle but this is impossible to do in most cases as 9 times out of 10 the brakeplate has its centre hole exactly the same size as the spindle and this stops the shoes moving on to centre to give best performance, so my advice is apart from turning brakeplates around, bore out the spindle hole in the brakeplate and allow the shoes to centralise properly, without doing this you might only have a small percentage of the brake lining touching the drum. Alan Noakes. scottworkshop@hotmail.co.uk

[Deleted User]

Hi Alan how much bigger would you go, Kev

[dave bushell]

The spindle hole in the brake plate is dished with a matching nut. Surely the brake plate self centre when the nut is tightened against it, regardless of the hole size?
Dave

[dave bushell]

Ignore that last posting of mine, I was thinking of a steel brake plate that I’ve just been working on! With the aluminum plates you can of course enlarge the hole as there is no self centering.
Dave.

[BRIAN MARSHALL]

With a hole larger in diameter than the wheel spindle, hold the brake hard on when tightening the brake plate retaining nuts. This of course centralises the brake assembly, and can make a surprising improvement to the braking efficiency.
Brian

[Deleted User]

Yep. A trick most people learned back in the days of triumph 7″ SLS front brakes.
On the Nimbus (bought from a friend as it didn’t live up to his expectations) the front brake was useless despite having brand new shoes fitted. A quick run around the block proved that he wasn’t exaggerating, it really was pitiful.
When dismantled, it became clear that one shoe hadn’t even been contacting the drum, so it was all reassembled with care and Copaslip, then the back-plate locknut tightened with the front brake squeezed hard on.
Never do stoppies, but at least it’s now safe to ride in traffic.

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