R 75/5 Drum front brake.

[cbclemmens]

The front brake on my R 75/5 locked up and threw me to the ground. There was very little damage to the bike as I was only doing about 20mph, but I ended up in the hospital with a broken hip. That was a month ago and I am still a month or more from recovery. This is the third time (going back to 1972 - same model - not same bike) that I have dumped an R 75/5 because the front brake has locked up. When it has happened, there was a BANG and I was on the ground, just that quick.

But enough about my troubles. I want to know if there is a way to keep this from happening? Or, maybe better yet, is there a conversion kit to put disk brakes on the front wheel? I love riding that old bike, but I don't want it to kill me.

Craig

[cwf]

I had a 60/6 with a drum front brake and it used to lock up on me. The wisdom of the time went : shoe material, chamfer on the leading edge, angle of the operating levers, amount of slack and maybe more. I was riding all day, every day (courier) so I had plenty of time to work on it.

Finally, what sorted it for me was a new cable. The cable might seem to work when disconnected but something within was wrong. The cables then had a nylon sleeve between the inner and outer.

Locking up the front seemed unnatural, when my friends with the new disc brakes were all telling me how old-fashioned drum brakes were. When I wore out the 60/6 and bought a 75/7, I found the disc wore out in about 30,000 while the drum went 180,000 before going oval, and the shoes lasted about 25,000 and I could get them refaced once, while pads lasted about 3,500 - progress, eh?

Charlie.

[r67boxer]

The front brake on my R 75/5 locked up and threw me to the ground. There was very little damage to the bike as I was only doing about 20mph, but I ended up in the hospital with a broken hip. That was a month ago and I am still a month or more from recovery. This is the third time (going back to 1972 - same model - not same bike) that I have dumped an R 75/5 because the front brake has locked up. When it has happened, there was a BANG and I was on the ground, just that quick.

But enough about my troubles. I want to know if there is a way to keep this from happening? Or, maybe better yet, is there a conversion kit to put disk brakes on the front wheel? I love riding that old bike, but I don't want it to kill me.

Craig

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Hoping for a speedy recovery. WRT the front brake locking up, I've had the same issue with my '71 R75/5 but only during the first few km's and stops. I backed off the adjuster a bit which seemed to help and always applied the rear brake first and in concert with the front. This seems to help as I haven't had a lockup since. Having said that though my so-called lockup wasn't as sudden or severe as yours. I also had the drum apart and changed the shoes but this had little effect.

Kevin

[weh8127]

Craig, ATE disk brakes are plug-and-play on a /5 after you collect the parts. You'll need a /6 tank if you want an under tank master cylinder or use a handle bar master cylinder. In my experience, the ATE brakes are somewhat better than a well setup /5 drum, but not much. But, I've never experienced a drum brake lockup. I understand that the bar mount master cylinder and braided stainless brake lines improve things.