Dual Cam Springer Brake

[Rex]

Anybody have experience with the dual cam springer brake? Is it worth $333?

Rex

[Paps]

I know folks who have installed them and they claim they are better than the singles. They are not disc brake strong though. As far as cost goes.....After one buys all the parts to build a good single, especially if he seeks out oem or nos parts, he will have much more tied up in it than he will the dual setup. Paps

[KDR]

I have it for $313 & change.........it's one of our own (FMC) brand products.

I've sold probably......400 to 500 units and other than a few issues with the first series that went out do to the brake material and the lever being too short, I've had no complaints. We've lengthened the lever to give more leverage on the shoes to increase the stopping power and have changed the brake shoe material to a semi-metalic lining. It's still not a disc brake, but I have those now also for the BT Springer forks. They'll be listed on our new site coming soon, or you can e-mail me for pictures and prices.

Kurt

45" Parts Depot

www.45partsdepot.com

[johndee138]

Vintage Brake in California (google it) did my 48 Chief front brake and I could lock it up while moving if I squeezed hard enough. The 2cam I put on my 47EL never seemed to work that great. I sent it to VB and he relined it and turned it to match the drum. Some better, not alot. Seems to work best when allowed to really move the cams out (adjusted pretty far out). I am thinking of returning to stock w/ the VB magic retrofitted. He does a GREAT job.

[KDR]

What I've found since we've been selling these brakes is when a customer has a complaint or poor performance from them, is they don't understand the brake. Although we try to supply an out of the box product, it still takes some adjusting to get it right. I must admit that I've put some time into this also and here's what I've found and it seems to correct most if not all of the problems.

The cams need to be timed....meaning if they do not press the brake shoes against the drum correctly and at a certain time, the pressure exerted will be low. I've found if you time the top cam to start the brake application ahead of the bottom cam slightly....the brake works much better. Don't adjust it too much or it will wear out the shoes on the top end faster.

Another problem we ran into was the aftermarket brake cables. They stretch like a rubber band and never really stop stretching giving the brake a spongy feeling. An NOS or one of our own new cables is a fix for that.

Another problem is when people reuse their original drum and don't dress it. It takes a whole lot of riding for the shoes to wear in. On the same note, people who do dress their drum, fail to notice that there is now a size difference and again the shoes take a long time to seat because they are usually smaller and have limited contact area.

We machine the shoes as close as we can to the size of a new drum so the brake has full contact with the drum surface, but it still takes quite a bit of riding and use for the brake to seat.

All in all, like I said, I've really had no complaints with customers that order direct from me and those who have, have been able to set it up correctly. If you bought it from one of our vendors who carries the product, they haven't said anything to me either.

One side note: yes, we could have made a brake that would lock up the front wheel and as a matter of fact we still have one of the prototype's that did. We opted not to put it into production because if you don't know, we reproduce the Springer forks and know what damage can be caused by a brake that works. I've posted this on another site before in detail, but here's a short version; the left rigid fork leg and left rear rocker stud takes all of the force from the front brake. A big brake that works well will bend the fork leg over time and I felt when we made the decision to lessen the brakes power, it was the right decision and still do to this day. The rear left rocker stud, which is only a 7/16" bolt cannot take the strain that a good brake commands of it and will fail over time, or under extreme use. Even our new disc brake is made so it doesn't lock up the front, but still provides better stopping power than the original brake. If you want to go bigger like some of these 6 piston calipers I've seen on an original Springer, it's your call and your azz in the saddle.

Kurt