Is my left foot insensitive or is something missing?

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Taid
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Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:35 pm
Location: Shropshire UK

Is my left foot insensitive or is something missing?

Post by Taid »

I get no feed back from the brake pedal through my foot ..

The brake is obviously working, 'cos the bike slows down, but I've no idea how heavily I'm pushing the pedal ..

Are the brake shoe springs likely to be too light, or should there be another spring somewhere in the linkage

To be honest, after many years with a push bike, where I normally only used the front brake (no brake pedal anyway) I am having trouble training my left foot to participate in the riding experience.

So how light/heavy should the rear brake be?
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Now sold ... 1956 AJS 16MS Bitsa .. HSU 414 .. rebuilt/re-registered 1987
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Rob Harknett
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Location: ESSEX UK

Re: Is my left foot insensitive or is something missing?

Post by Rob Harknett »

There's no adjustment on the shoe springs, they are quite strong. Try adjusting the rear brake until the brake starts to bind. Then let them off until the wheel turns free. Do not adjust so the drum lever start to point forwards, It needs to point backwards. To get this right you may need another shim washer under the mushrooms. If the plate / shoes are then too large to go in the drum you have too many shims. The less travel you have on the foot pedal, the sooner you will feel it hard on. Don't have it too sharp or the wheel could lock and cause it to skid.
Last edited by Rob Harknett on Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Greybeard
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Re: Is my left foot insensitive or is something missing?

Post by Greybeard »

Without everyone turning up and pressing the pedal I can't really see how that question can be answered :| Perhaps you need to ride the bike more and just get used to it. :)

Steve
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