Drum Brakes

A few years ago I purchased a front and rear pair of Robinson brakes, with the view of reproducing them.
They were very poorly made castings and structurally not very sound, I probably could of improved on them.
but decided to give the project a miss and sold them so there was no temptation to proceed with production.
I stayed with the Yamaha 260mm 4LS brake which I was already producing and still am, I've even made improvements on that brake.
 
Looks like my Suzuki 550 brakes are pretty decent in comparison to their peers.
 
madass140 said:
A few years ago I purchased a front and rear pair of Robinson brakes, with the view of reproducing them.
They were very poorly made castings and structurally not very sound, I probably could of improved on them.
but decided to give the project a miss and sold them so there was no temptation to proceed with production.
I stayed with the Yamaha 260mm 4LS brake which I was already producing and still am, I've even made improvements on that brake.
Click to expand...

I raced with a Robinson for a bit, horrid thing. I had to adjust it on the move, practically each lap, as the drum expanded so much. After the race, when cooled down, the brake would be dragging very tight, as the drum had shrunk again. I tried different linings, welded on a huge air scoop, all sort, but it was never any good.

One might be ok on a road bike, but if ridden hard it would even be an issue then.

I fitted a high end magnesium 4ls MV copy front brake after this and it was an absolute revelation to see how well a properly designed and properly made drum could actually work. It was fabulous.

You did the right thing by choosing a well proven design to copy and sell Don, you'd have had a right job on your hands trying to sort out the Robinson... In fact you may well have ended up in court !!
 
It has just dawned on me that Eddie Robinson was probally the same person who made a lot of parts for Paul Dunstall including the Dunstall twin disc front brake-say no more :!:
 
I guess back in those days when someone brought out a new product like this , it was considered a breakthrough in new design and technology for want of a better term regardless how good the product really was. I do tip my hat to those pioneers and i certainly dont knock them , Fortunately these days we have the benefit of modern production proceedures etc. look at all the upgraded products that even members of this forum produce.
 
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