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brake lever question

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beachcrab

Look Ma, No Hands!
so i have an atom rear drum brake/5 speed hub, and i need a brake lever suggestion. i tried a tektro lever that i had in the parts bin, but i run out of lever pull travel distance (hits the handlebar) before the brake is fully engaged. do i need a long pull lever for this brake? any suggestions? this is for yet another mad scientist project... a late 30's silver king that i'm converting to be a 5 speed.

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Hi, I have 5 speed atom drum on schwinn and weinmann lever pull 23mm cable anchor to pivot center to center.
Lever almost hits grip but I snugged up adjuster brake cable barrel. Maybe need lever more than 23mm pull.
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i decided to order a long pull lever from velo orange. i already readjusted and tweaked as much as i could with the drum lever but just couldn't get enough travel on the tektro lever. thanks for everyone's input.
 
Longer pull levers were common on drum brakes back in the day. Some of the old levers actually have two holes where you can mount the screw that serves as the axle for the lever - a shorter throw position for caliper brakes and a longer one for drums. The manufacturer's directions for drum brake cable set up should be followed closely because a mal-adjusted drum will just suck up all the pull and not brake.

The way I used to adjust old drums was to shorten the cable and adjust the cable barrel until the brake just barely rubbed while the lever was not being used, then loosen just a bit more so it spins freely and the brake engages the moment you start to pull. The old drums love to eat up lever travel.
 
my Cruiser 5 works just fine with the levers they came with. I would think you need to adjust the adjuster. when you adjust the cable on these the lever on the brake gets pulled quite a bit before you get to the point where the shoes contact the drum. spin the wheel and work the brake by moving the arm. you will see what I mean.
 
Also beware of chain clearance for the outer 2 gears....I started in with a sachs drum setup that was 7x2(internal granny gear) and I finally built the wheel. Went to mock it up with the wheel in the dropouts, then saw the issue of having the chain tensioner casting and stay mount bolt all up in the chain line for cog 6 and 7. Figured I was pressing my luck spreading the aged aluminum frame as it was and aborted that hub before adding spacers and breaking something.
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Just went with a 3 speed coaster setup. I still like looking at it, but will probably end up parting out/selling this one.
 
Also beware of chain clearance for the outer 2 gears....I started in with a sachs drum setup that was 7x2(internal granny gear) and I finally built the wheel. Went to mock it up with the wheel in the dropouts, then saw the issue of having the chain tensioner casting and stay mount bolt all up in the chain line for cog 6 and 7. Figured I was pressing my luck spreading the aged aluminum frame as it was and aborted that hub before adding spacers and breaking something.
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Just went with a 3 speed coaster setup. I still like looking at it, but will probably end up parting out/selling this one.
i know what you mean about outer cog/chain clearance... i went with an axle spacer and also replaced the chain stay/seat stay bolt with a stainless bolt and thinner nut. i did have to spread things out on the frame, but the metal is pretty malleable so it fit without much of a struggle. my biggest struggle was finding a RD that had the reach i needed inboard, so went with the ultegra because it is 8 speed capable so plenty of travel, and has the curvy body shapes to kind of match the frame curvies.

your bike looks cool!
 
when you adjust the cable on these the lever on the brake gets pulled quite a bit before you get to the point where the shoes contact the drum. spin the wheel and work the brake by moving the arm. you will see what I mean.
Yup. I get full complete braking when levers few mm away from bar. Barrel adjusted wheel spin freely and slight back spin before full stop. I tighten half turn barrel and spins fine but stops full, no back spin. I figure no back spin means pads contacting slight feather resistance at that barrel set point. Maybe back spin vs no spin makes no difference?
 
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