The front brake on this bike worked, but the lever could be pulled almost down to the bars and the cable adjustment was already maxxed out. It shouldn't pass the MOT like this so its likely the shoes are worn down so I set about changing them. Hopefully a fairly straightforward job.
This bike has the earlier type of hub (and thus brakes) only fitted for a year. As a hint if you need new shoes for this type of hub search the BSA part numbers 41-6073 and 41-6076. This is because most suppliers list these as for the A50 A55 rather than B25. This search turns up a greater list from which to find the cheapest- I managed to halve the cost. Before starting I took some general pictures to record the position of the components
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| Rhs- cable enters grommet on fork leg and then brake lever. |
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| LHS, axle and clamp bolts |
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| Front brake cable routing lever crossingspeedo |
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| cable down behind nacelle |
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| Crossing behind fork legs to return to lhs, passing beween leg and mudguard. |
A word about cables....
BSA Starfire parts list shows a small cable clip should be attached to the fork yoke rhs in order to clip the brake cable in place down the RHS of the forks. However the Fleetstar should have a grommet on the mudguard instead and this does the same job. The Fleetstar is also listed as having a different brake cable from the Starfire- perhaps because of this slight difference it its routing. This different cable is now unobtainable. In fact all manufacturers list the same cables for both Starfire and Fleetstar. In my case, the mudguards on my bike are Starfire chromed guards rather than the deeper valanced mudguards fitted as std to gvt and police Fleetstars. The chrome guards have no fitting for the grommet, so its not surprising that I dont have this, however I found that the yoke clip was missing as well! I will order and fit a clip when I reassemble to try and neaten up the cable run by following the Starfire routing.
I also have a bit of a problem with the clutch cable as it has been trapped in the forks and crushed. This also needs replacing and I have to find a better routing for that one as well. For future notice cable lengths for starfire and fleetstar are given as (outers only)
Clutch 44 inches (48 with Western bars)
Front brake 31 inches (36 with western bars)
Mine was 32 with a 39 inner... This was too long and it needs to be 38 (ignoring adusters nipples and brake lever saddle). The new one from NSA is 31 inch outer and 36.5 inner.
Throttle 34 inches.
Stripping the front brakes
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| Slacken cable completely and remove locknut from behind lever |
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| Unscrew pivot bolt freeing lever |
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| twist lever inwards to allow terminal to slip out |
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| undo locknut from wheel lever arm |
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| and detach cable from grommet and brake lever. Note split nipple that fits into the brake plate grommet dont loose this! |
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| Place blocks under the wheel to support it in position so that it doesn't drop as the axle cap nuts (1/4ww) are undone |
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| Note cap removed completely but the wheel hasn't dropped. If you don't do this then the threads of the cap nuts are stressed as the wheel's weight hangs from them and tend to strip. |
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| Some evidence of this past trauma on all bolts! I restored the threads 5/16 BSC using a die. I will clean out the thread holes as well and hope this will be OK otherwise I will have to fit new bolts. |
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| Brake plate retained by 11/16 ww nut- strangely not all my 11/16 spanners fitted it! |
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| Brace across axle to prevent the backplate from turning as you unscrew the centre nut. |
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| ... which came off quite easily |
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| Brake plate lifted out of hub, looks clean. |
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| To be fair although wear was clearly evident, the shoes didn't look worn out. however the leading edge of one shoe was broken so they definitely do require replacement. |
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| Rivet is getting near to shoe surface maybe |
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| General view of shoe, rivets are still recessed so I am surprised that the cable couldn't be adjusted any more. However my experience with the clutch cable has made me wonder if the cables are right at all. |
These shoes are getting quite scarce so I will save these against a future requirement to reline.
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| View of hub, no scoring all looks smooth. Bearing grease still contained and no wear evident in bearings so all good here. |
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| Trake lever was very stiff in action so I held it in a vice so that the locknut could be removed and the actuator released from the hub brakeplate. |
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| Actuator removed, the shaft of the pivot pin was corroded so I cleaned it... |
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| And reassembled using copaslip |
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| a smear of copaslip on both the actuator and pivot points |
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| Place new shoes in position with their springs and push them down wards to engage with actuator and pivot pin |
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| I installed the new cable clip on the yoke bolts- the clip needed to be re-bent to fit over the yoke bolt and allow the nut to go on, but when fitted it then makes a good notch to retain the brake cable in a route straight down the lhs fork leg. |
Refitting the brakes with the new shoes failed to rectify the problem . It was simply not possible to adjust the brakes because all the cable adjustment was needed just to get them to bite. It seemed that the brake cable inner was actually too long (or outer too short) meaning that there was insufficient adjustment left at the lever. I did manage to shorten the cable by resoldering the nipple about 1.5 inches further down:
I cut the cable using a sharp cold chisel on the anvil section of the vice. I could then hold the end of the wire plus nipple in the vice and heat the nipple. I used a plumbers torch but I have since found out that a butane torch of the type used to make Creme brulee (or even a pencil butane torch) are far more convenient giving a more localised heat source. This melted the solder and allowed me to retrieve the nipple.
I cleaned the nipple and wire thorougly in degreasant and meths and then clamped the end of the cable in the vice and inserted the nipple so that it rested on the vice.
Its not the solder that holds the nipple on but rather the splaying of the cable inside the nipple- so I spread the individual strands using a centre punch
I soldered the cable to hold the splayed end using plumbers solder and flux.
Soldered end cleaned up with a file
Nipple was firmly held... but sadly the cable was now too short so an important lesson learned there I think! I have ordered a new one. This was fitted without problems although it seemed to me that this simply reproduced the problem I had experienced in the first place! ie all the adjustment was needed to take up the slack in tha cable before the brake shoes could bite. It seems pretty clear to me that the stock cable as sold today is around 0.5 inches too long in the inner!
I set about reducing the length of my new cable using my experience form the abortive attempt above.
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| TThis is the problem, lever is perilously close to the grip before the brakes start to do anything... |
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| ... and the adjustment is precatically all out. |
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| Seems to me that appx 1- 1.5 cms or around 1/2 inch needs to comer out of this cable so that the adjuster would site back at the start of the thread. |
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| clamp cable in vice allowing the bottom of the nipple to drop 1.5 cms to the top of the vice |
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| Melt solder with butane torch.... |
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| ... and OOOPS! This was a cheap cable and the nipple appears to be entirely solder! However the deformed and molten mess did move down the cable... |
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| ... so I could clip the expanded end using a pair of Draper cable snips- work pretty well and easier to use than the cold chisel. |
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| Luckily I have an old brass nipple, so I dropped it onto the cable and then cut the spare cable without unfastening it |
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| Cover everything with flux- new cable not yet greased. |
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| Splay the ends of the strands aoutwards into the well of the nipple using a centre punch etc |
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| Heat the brass nipple, and then touch the plumbers solder to the top well without directly melting the solder in the flame. The solder will melt and run around and through the nipple. |
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| I was very pleased to see solder run right through the nipple- but this isnt a very neat job! |
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| Tidied up with a file |
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| ... and refitted- MUCH better! Cable now bites at a reasonable distance from the grip even without using the adjuster. I expect to have to use this as the shoes centralise and bed in. |
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| Cable runs nicely through new clip |
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| Cable runs down inside of left fork-here viewed from rear |
Note the brake cam securing nut behind the cable guide. Loosen this and pull on the brake a few times as you turn the wheel. Re-tighten with the brake lever still under tension. This allows the cam to move into its optimum position, balancing the effort between both shoes and giving a smoother braking effect. In my case it removed an annoying shudder apparent from when I bought the bike. This can cause the cable to slacken a little so check adjustment after this centralising process.
