intergrated brakes

[flea]

hi,due to old age and a dodgy leg im intrested in putting a intergrated braking system on my 76 model (same as on moto guzzi and a few others) has any one else done this conversion,any suggestions would be helpful.i have a disc rear wheel spare if i have to change from drum and twin disc on front

[tomterrific]

Hi Flea,

I think all (most?) of the integrated brakes are one front disk and the rear operated by the foot pedal. You are wanting all three disks operated by the hand lever? I feel this is an easy setup, whether it will work right is to be determined.

Here is the way I would do this, I'd set it up like a car. All three disks would operate off the handle bar lever. The rear hose would come off either the master cylinder or the junction of the bottom triple tree. I'd use steel lines bent to follow the frame with flex lines at teh swing arm and MC. At some point in the rear line there would be an adjustable brake proportioning valve to set teh front reat bias (balance). These are available for small racing cars so one should be readily found.

Some thoughts are the MC size should be increased for three calipers, at least 16mm. Also I'm thinking the way bias should work on a bike. Loose road surface is usually handled by the back brake with more bias and the front fingered delicately, if at all. Perhaps this can be accomplished by using sintered pads in the rear so initial grab is higher in the rear. (?)

When you Google brake bias or balance you will run into a mechanical way to bias the front/rear with a bar and two master cylinders. While this would look cool as heck on the front downtubes I think it is too much trouble.

Way back in the early 70's a fellow motorcyclist would come to our party house to hang out. He had a bum leg of sorts so his Mach III had been modified so both teh brake and shifter were on one side. I think it shifted as normal and the brake was actuated with teh heel of his boot.

Was it Wayne Raney that used left hand braking on his race bike? He had a lever for his thumb. Maybe too awkward to set up and use.

Finally, You should not attempt this (I wouldn't) without calling Michael Morse at Vintage Brake / 650central. The guy has so much experience with brakes he may have a setup already.

Tom Graham

[flea]

thanks tom i will give him a try.kliktronic put out a system with 2 levers 1 long 1 short operating from 1 master cyd that works on both dic and drum but$$$$$ they also make a gear electronic quick shift which i have but not fitted yet. the brake system i was after is similar to guzzi,if memory services me correctly 2 disc at front,1 serving as park brake then a adjustable valve 60% going to front and 40%to rear but icant remember if rear was drum or disc this was back in 70/early 80s? also the back brake could still be operating independently

[madmax]

If my memory of Guzzi California's is correct, the handlebar lever operated one front disc and the pedal operated the other in conjunction with the rear brake, sorry I don't know the % split front/rear.

Max

[jetmechmarty]

On the Moto Guzzi, the hand brake operates the right front caliper. The foot pedal operates the left front and rear caliper. Brake pressure to the rear is controlled by a proportioning valve. The proportioning valve is variable. It is connected to the swingarm and adjusted by the weight placed upon the bike.

The 1982 YAMAHA XJ1100 has similarly linked brakes. I'm sure there must be others as well.

[xsleo]

I think someone did hook the front and rear disc brakes together, seems I read about it awhile back.
You might try a search for linked brakes.
Leo

[jefferytodd]

I think the "someone" you refer to was Gordonscott. He had a really nice looking chopper he built and it had intergrated brakes.
jefft

[ShakerNorm]

I have an 83 XJ1100 Maxim that has a similar setup - 2 discs on front, 1 rear, and the pedal operates the rear and one of the front discs, while the handlebar lever operates the other front disc. Works a charm, actually - and you'd probably have a lot more success finding a junker to strip the parts from in a wrecking yard. I think the proportioning valve is integrated with the master cylinder, so that may make it easier.

Look for an 82, though - the 83 was in Canada only (although it's exactly the same setup)...... Being another Yamaha, you may get lucky and even get the whole mess to fit your XS.

[flea]

thanks,i will start looking around but what im basically trying to do is make both front and back brake work off the brake lever on the handle bars where most of the bobbers etc are trying to get rid of the bar lever for looks where i want to make it with no foot controls (kliktronic electronic gear shifter,so the gear shift is sorted) so any more ideas for the brakes would be helpfull

[crazypj22]

I've done it couple of times on different bikes, without proportioning valves and had no problems (it's really weird on a trail bike though )
Yam DT guy had a hand problem after an accident and couldn't open fingers to grab brake lever so I ran a long line from rear MCto front caliper (swapped MC for larger bore off some junk Honda,forget which)
I fitted a second caliper to swing arm connected to front MC (in Britain you must have 2 independent braking systems on motorcycles operating on front and rear wheels)
Smallish bore rear master cyl gives better feel, still took a bit of getting used to though.