Front brake upgrade

[BevelBitsaBrighton]

The point about the cables was made to me elsewhere with a recommendation to use Honda "silver" cables with the hub. Also setup of the levers makes a difference apparently. I am building a bike from a pile of parts so will use new cables throughout. The engine has been "breathed on" by a pro builder in the UK & I have a Mach1 so so not bothered about originality on this bike. I have fitted wider rims to use radial tyres & want as much braking as I can get to go with them. Will post pictures of my "hot rod 450" when its up & running.

[BevelBitsaBrighton]

PXL_20210322_163039675 small.jpg

CB350 hub has arrived, obviously doesnt just drop straight in, so will start work on this tomorrow!

[amartina75]

Maybe stating the obvious here but one important thing to sort is having contact with the inner bearing race through the hub. The brake plate will probably drop in relatively easy. The Honda shoes and hub are much narrower than the Grimeca unit.

I’ve picked up a couple twin leading shoe hubs from a Harley Sprint off eBay for around $100 each. They are a good choice for upgrading front brakes, much less to figure out.

Aaron

[BevelBitsaBrighton]

I have fitted the CB350 brake plate to my 450 & it appears to work well, but the bike is not road legal yet. The brake plate is a "290" plate, this is the type number stamped on the back & is from an 1970 CB350. The speedo drive pulls out with pliers. The boss underneath the drive needs 8mm milling off it. I put the spindle through the plate, dropped an old wheel bearing down the spindle & chamfered the boss until it no longer touched the outer of the bearing. As you can see below, I just used a dremel to do this. The last picture is of the rib that runs around the outside of the plate. I trimmed it back so that is was about the same diameter as the brake shoes (It fouled the drum before), again using a dremel!

[BevelBitsaBrighton]

450 finished, goes very well, very pleased. The Honda brake with Ferodo shoes is definitely stronger than the Ducati brake on my Mach1. I have used a Honda cable & they are considerably thicker than Ducati ones, just needed the outer trimming to work with Tommiselli levers.

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[themoudie]

Aye bevelbits,

That looks a very neat and tidy job that you have done on the 450 MKIII. Good to see another one being worn out and pleased that the brake conversion is working well.

Good health, BillR