Originally Posted by
polyphrast
Not all SA drumbrakes have out of the box good brake performance. Sometimes the brake pads have to be grinded lightly to allow full contact between brake pad and drum surface.
Also short brake cable routing with as little bends as possible is highly recommended.
If this is done brake performance is very good.
SA drums are used in recumbent trikes and velomobile and are often due to above mentioned points not satisfactory ( brake cables are usually longer and with one or two narrow turns)
>>> Yah I also give the pads and liner a light rub when I take it apart, to take off the glaze.
The rest of your post is baloney. DON'T put the cables under bar tape then. My rear cables are over 6 feet long. NO problem with either the drum or TRP Spyre disc caliper. I do have compressionless housings now. My old and new drums worked exactly the same from the start. Doesn't even matter short or long pull levers. 2 or 3 times I got OIL on the rear drum and pads, it still WORKED fine. Rubbed with solvent and sand with 180 or 220.
The disc didn't need much breaking in either. That mount is my homemade design.
Fully loaded was 120 lbs. I had a useless POS caliper before the disc on the Rohloff14. So the front drum did 95% of the stopping for 15,000 miles.
NO recumbent weighs that. They have drums on the FRONT, so the cables can't be that long.
My other bike. I tested the brakes with a hard 39-0 mph at the bottom of a hill. NOTHING is better, including ALL conditions. >>
