AL NZ

Hi all,

I have a pair of (probably 70s) SA drum brake hubs (32 and 40 spoke) which I hope to make the basis of a bike. I am in no hurry, and have had the hubs a year. I bought them in the UK from ebay and gathered some other stuff to make a bike from - I have a nice Williams crank set, Brooks B66, good old levers, cables. No BB set, but will need to go Raleigh, I presume, to fit the Williams

I have 3 good vintage bikes, so no hurry. Also, still settling back into NZ so a new bike is on the back burner, which is good as my plans keep changing.

I have thought about going for a custom frame made in NZ, then I thought about an old English frame, now I am wondering about getting Mercian to make me a custom lugged frame.

What I need to know before doing anything is - how effective are SA drum brakes?
Because if no good, then it would be an expensive folly of a project.
But if fair-to-good in their stopping power, then that is good enough for me.

I also need to decide on rims. I like wheels as big as possible, and love 28" (635). But if the right 700c rim was out there, I would go for it. It would have to look classic, and take big tyres similar to the 28 x 1 1/2" cross section.
Any suggestions?

Nicolas Ehrhart

SA drum rake are excellent when they are in good condition but building a complet bike around a set of 32/40 holes hubs is a bit riscky 28" (635) are easy to found in 36 holes but I never saw new rims with any kind of other number of holes.... 700 C will be more simple but 40 holes are tricky to find too....

bikamper

This doesn't help the big tire aspect, but Sun CR-18 are available in EA3/650A/26x1 3/8 size with 32, 36, and 40 hole drillings.

I've run the SA Elites on my randonnuer bike for the past 25 years and can't imagine running anything else on it. The type of brake lever makes a big difference in how effective the brakes work, though. My personal preference is for older non-areo levers with a lot of cable pull and mechanical advantage, such as Campy NR, older Dura-Ace, Wienmann, and Dia-Compe. I've tried Shimano Exage aero levers on the Elites and found the braking performance less than adequate. Flintstoning was necessary. That said, the Cane Creek aero levers I'm using on my Riv with an SA X-FDD and Sram S7 drumbrake hub have been the catsass.

Citoyen du Monde

Fair-good is a loaded description. It is a very personal opinion. I used to have a Sturmey-Archer front on a trike back in the late 70's early 80's and I cannot recall ever having a worse brake on any bike I have ever owned. I would not put my life in the hands of 2 Sturmey Archer hub brakes (from one who frequently rides a bike with rod brakes with 70 year-old brake pads).

clubman 

Occasionally you get a great one...this 3 speed rear stops brilliantly without a front to back it up. And I'm no lightweight.



New drum pads, cleaning and adjustment usually make the difference.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'm a drum brake lover.

I've got a 45 pound plus Varsity with a modern Sturmey Front and a early 90's Shimano rear drum that stops as well as it would with rim brakes.

I'm currently building a bike using a pair of 1930's Sturmey BF and BR hubs. The wheels are built now but I'm still finishing up the bike and haven't ridden it yet. My first test won't be on a downhill, but I don't expect the braking to be any worse than an old "Schwinn Approved" sidepull on a steel rim.

I think now that we've got Dual Pull calipers and Disc Brakes our definition of good stopping power has changed a little.

**edit**

if your stopping power is lacking, new shoes or a whole new brake assembly can be had from SJS Cycles at a reasonable cost. The nice thing is that as far as braking stuff goes the replacement parts you can get new will work even on very old Sturmey Archer hubs.

Roll-Monroe-Co

Sounds like you're planning on using vintage. However, FWIW, I have a set of new production (Sun Race) 70mm AW drums on a utility bike (built for my wife, but too much fun to let it just sit in the garage. First several hundred miles, I was disappointed. I was definitely using the wrong lever (v-brake levers), and still am.

People talked about a break-in period, but I didn't know if I would notice a difference--nor even when it happened.

However, suddenly, over the course of a few months, the braking power got markedly better. Suddenly I was skidding tires when I needed to come to a fast stop.

I just ordered up a new set of wheels with a 90mm drum on the front (new SA drums front and rear), since I am planning for the total utility experience on a new build.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I believe that's Brake-In