Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board Need Help Improving Front Brake On B50mx

So I built a 1974 B50mx to race in vintage mx and I love the bike but the front brake is miserable. Now I am use to modern mx brakes so I don't really have anything to compare it too but I still feel it should be better than it is. I had the brake shoes relined when I built the bike up and the drum all looked good. I also think the angle looks ok on the brake arm so I don't really know if there is anything else I can do. Like I said I love riding the bike but with the way the front brake is I don't think I can race it like that! Any help would be appreciated.

That arm at rest is in the wrong position, when the hand lever is operated the arm angle to the cable should still be over 90 degrees. It won't make much difference but worth trying turning the lever over if the hole is serrated and engaging it further back so it pointing to the ground more.

Or

With the lower use of imperial thickness linings the aftermarket is using metric thickness and fitting say 6mm thick instead of 1/4" thick linings, so you start with new shoes with 1/2 worn linings which also only touch on one end.

So what brand shoes did you buy ?

This is why Villers services and Saftek are the go to places for shoe relining, the lining thickness can be custom or the OEM imperial thickness.

This is not a recommendation. Modifying your brakes can be dangerous.

On this Norton backplate, lining material has been removed from the trailing end of the trailing shoe, by a mad experimentalist.

It allows the cam to put more pressure on the leading shoe, instead of the cam being stopped from turning by the trailing shoe contacting the drum. That cam jamming effect is a characteristic of non-floating SLS brakes, and ones that float the wrong way.

did the shoes get arced to match the drum?