[AzCal Retred]

Nice - Even the rubber distributor cap - Maximum Effort! 

[Willbrunei]

Ah yes
The rubber monsoon cover for the points. That was an earlier fix attempt.

[Adrian II]

If that doesn't do the job, next stop is a Lucas Wader magneto!

A.

[Paul W]

The post lady brought the re-lined front brake shoes from Villiers Services this morning. They took 7 or 8 working days to get back here from when they should have received them, which is good service in my book.

I specified “road use” from their options list. They now appear to be very purposeful (see photo). They have fitted heavy duty, woven friction material, with what look like embedded copper threads.

I had thoroughly degreased the shoes before I sent them, but they have come back even cleaner, pristine, in fact - they look better than the new “OE” ones I fitted when I removed them a couple of weeks ago. I think they have been bead blasted.

I’ll fit these when the weather improves; we’re in the grips of Storm “Arwen” just now, very strong winds and lashings of very cold rain and some snow. I’ll then road test them and report back.

For those in U.K., the return postage was £3.85, 1st Class, small parcel. This was included in the payment to Villiers Services.

Now I have two pairs of front brake shoes, if these work well as I think they will do, in future I will be having them re-lined rather than buying new. The rear ones, too.

[AzCal Retred]

Grippy! Looks like they arced them in also, as per the website. That's the very material I was considering for the trail bike. Very interested in reading your test review! - ACR -

[Paul W]

The weather is dry and clear today (but a bit too cold for a proper ride out) so I decided to open up the garage and fit the re-lined brake shoes from Villiers Services.

First thing of note was that the recently fitted “OE” shoes that I’d fitted a few weeks ago had still not bedded in properly (see photos below) despite putting a few hundred miles on the bike and a few hard stops I’d done to settle them in. What intrigued me was the strange “cross hatching” marks across the linings. I can’t work out what was done by the manufacturer to produce these!

Anyway, the Hitchcock’s brake shoe tool made swapping the shoes over very easy.

On fitting the Villiers shoes and refitting the wheel one thing was immediately obvious. They fit the drum very well indeed. Adjusting the cable was much easier, I think because the shoes have been properly radiussed to fit the drum! With the original shoes, it was difficult to find an adjustment that allowed the wheel to spin completely freely without excessive movement at the handlebar lever.

Comparing the brake with the nearly new shoes that I took off, it feels far more positive. A quick run up and down our short road proved the point. I’m looking forward to a proper road test but so far, these shoes seem to be as good as the customer reviews on the Villiers website indicate. Basically, I reckon these shoes are very good, especially for the price. The shoes that came off the bike will definitely be re-lined before they go back on in the future.

I still have a heavy duty cable to fit, which should be a further improvement because I think the original Indian one stretches! That will be done later when I fit new steering head bearings.