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Tuesday, 12 February 2013

And stopping.

With the wheels in motion, we can start to look at the brakes. The front is still on the bike, but the back is off and apart:

There is nothing particularly horrendous to report at first sight. The linings are nice and thick, there is only a moderate amount of grease and gunge around and everything operates as it should.

Closer inspection reveals that the adjuster is missing - easily fixed, from Draganfly; a 1/2" BSC tap can be used to clean up the thread, and the sliding parts degreased. No problem.

But what is this? This little bodge is revealed when the cam is removed. The brake cam shaft measures 1/2" OD and is unworn. The hole in the brake back plate measures 5/8" ID and is unworn, so what is going on? I would have guessed that this little 'sleeve' was doing service to fill up a worn hole, but no. A session with the Ariel parts book and Drags 'List 15' leaves me none the wiser.

However, a chat with Mick at Drags reveals all. Having found me my missing adjuster, Mick goes to look at their stock of brake plates and finds that one of them has a bush pressed into this hole - part of the brake plate, hence no separate part number or identification in the parts book.

So now I have some 5/8" x 16 SWG seamless tube on the way from eBay.. 
Unworn cam shaft and brake plate hole.

Another mystery, a riveted cover over a hole in the brake plate. This hole is for a lug forged into the left hand Anstey link 'stirrup' which serves to prevent the brake plate turning.
The hole has a sheet aluminium plate and a paper gasket held in place by a few brass rivets, some of which are missing. It appears to be there to stop debris getting inside the brake drum.

Talking of the brake drum, here it is, treated to a coat of Finnegan's finest:

And here is the back plate and shoes. The backplate has a lot of dings and nicks, the worst of which have been dressed. We'll see how it fares on the abrasive mop before deciding what else to do with it.

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