Super STOPPING

I had an idea floating around for quite a while about how to improve the 6” sis brakes fitted to various Redditch-made bikes in the mid-1950s to early 1960s. The standard brake, the one with the floating brake cam bush, isn’t too bad when correctly set up per the book, but there’s room for improvement. I started thinking along the lines of 2ls brakes – but using only RE parts that were available when the bike was in production.

I did a series of drawings and finally ended up with a design using modified RE brake cams. One side of the cam would be filled in to create a half-moon shape that would act as the new anchor for a brake shoe, the brake anchor itself being replaced with another modified brake cam. I built the brake – double-sided as it’s on my Constellation – last year and it’s been on the road for a few months with excellent results.

I shared my information with Allan Hitchcock, who replied ‘It is great to see projects that work well as so many do not get past the idea stage. Sounds like you have a winner here.’ So here’s