Arrow Sport Front Brake

[PJohnstone]

I'm getting hacked off with the poor front brake on my 71 Sport, and read a Honda C77 (dream) front brake wll fit the Sport.
Have anynof you more knowledgeable guys any advice on this please.
Thanks

[bh.sprint]

There are somethings you can do to make the front brake a bit better before going for a T L Shoe or a Japanese brake. Will reply in more detail in a couple of days. Brian H

[Ivor Collins]

Have you typed it into the search bar? You may find some historic answers.

There are some excellent drawings from the late Paul Webb for converting a standard brake to TLS but not easy to manufacture.

Grafting in a brake from a donor machine usually requires a new spindle, anchor arrangement and often conversion to the opposite side. Are you planning on doing the conversion yourself?

[Bernie Blundell]

A 'heavier' cable will help reduce loses going from standard from stretching, I've just had one made for the Ice Cream Wagon upping it from #2 to #4 which I believe is the most practical compromise as the outer fits the anchor point without modification. Edit: They also made it 3" longer than standard at my request, smoother cable run to help with arthritic joints (I hope).
JJ Cables 01295-971170 did mine (£24), you could also try Venhill's

[bh.sprint]

Hi, I was going to mention a heavier cable or just a good quality cable to make the brake a bit better but Bernie got there first. Having the brake shoes machined to the diameter of the drum helps a little. On my standard Leader moving the anchour point out a bit and using a longer brake lever ( the cable pulls at 90 degrees doing it this way) helps give a little more bit/feel to the brake. On the MK2 Leader the front brake is good for a Leader and that bike has an alloy brake drum which seems generally to work better. I've tried a T L Shoe brake, its a lot of work for the improvement gained. . The best brake is on the Arrow with a Japanese brake of 175m/m approx diameter T L Shoe, its a two finger brake and the first time I used it for real it gave me quite a shock because it pulled up so efficiently. Brian H. ps picture of T.L.Shoe and extended anchour point with longer lever + Japanese brake.

[Simon.Gardiner]

Brian - how have you done that extended cable anchor point, have you had to nibble a piece out of the brake plate to make room for the back of the cable end abutment and is that a bolt and an allen cap-head securing the extension to the brake plate?

(I've got one of the longer levers that come up on ebay but I'd like to steal someone else's method of extending the anchor point.)

Thanks

SG

[bh.sprint]

Hi, The flat part of the anchour extension has a couple of tenons on the end which locate into the brake plate, along with the bolt and stud. The round bit into which the outer cable locates is welded to the flat part. It's had quite a test and seems secure, it does give a bit more bite to the brake so when you pull a little harder on the brake lever there is more retardation rather than a feeling of brake fade. There are other ways of getting more pull to the front bake but I'll let Ivor, I think,say what he's done. Brian H.

[Simon.Gardiner]

Brian - thanks, any chance of a sketch (probably too late for a pic of the other side)?
The back brake on my Arrow is very strong and that has to be because it's got a really long lever arm on the brake plate, so I'm thinking that anything similar that could be done to the front might work equally well (and would be a lot easier than finding/fitting a different front wheel).

SG

[bh.sprint]

Hi, I'll do a sketch with a bit more detail on. The brake is in use at the moment on the standard Leader but I'll add some measurments to the sketch and a little more information. Brian H.

[bh.sprint]

Attached the brake anchour point sketch. BH - not very good scan