Brake Lever

[jhg1958]

Has anyone got a spare brake lever or rather the handlebar bracket.  I now realise that the pivot hole in mine is very oval and makes the front brake seem very odd. (I know they do not work well anyway.). Included a photo to show oval pivot hole.

I have loads of levers and some brackets but none for a 1951 A10.

John

[Greybeard]

If you have no luck getting hold of a genuine lever you could consider drilling out the holes and using a larger bolt. The bolt should have a short plain shank for the pivoting so you may need to take a die to the bolt to reduce the length of the plain section.

Brand-new lever assemblies are available of course.

[Worty]

You could make a bush for it.  I did the same on my Kwaka.

[groily]

There's no perfect substitute for 'new' - even if it means doing without or adding an adjuster and rethinking the cable. If that's a departure from original, it's a tiny one and for a good reason.

Bushing is sort-of OK (been there too), but the loads are surprisingly high and the added disadvantage is weakening the whole thing by removal of material.

Brakes may be 'optional extras', but sometimes they quite matter.

Riding pleasure is reduced by poor levers quite disproportionately.

Levers are a 'wear and tear' item and I don't think the 'originality' thing even comes into it, apart from the 'ball end or no ball end' bit.

[Rex]

All true, but the addition of a little brass bush to the pivot is both easy and satisfying..

[jhg1958]

All great ideas, especially the bush. However, without a lathe it’s beyond me. Thinking about it, even if I had a lathe but it would be fun trying.

The chrome is shot too so I suspect I need to dig deep and buy a new pair. Shame, if I buy many more bits it will hardly be an old bike!  Anyone know if a 1961 GF should have ball end levers?

John

[Worty]

All great ideas, especially the bush. However, without a lathe it’s beyond me. Thinking about it, even if I had a lathe but it would be fun trying.

The chrome is shot too so I suspect I need to dig deep and buy a new pair. Shame, if I buy many more bits it will hardly be an old bike!  Anyone know if a 1961 GF should have ball end levers?

John

All I did with the Kwaka is find some steel tube that the original pivot went through snugly.  I checked the o/d with the pivot hole and found they were pretty similar, so drifted the tube into the hole without having to drill anything out.  I could have heated the lever and cooled the tube, but it was unnecessary in the end.  End result is great, not more slop. 

Did a similar thing on the sloppy centrestand, this time using 15mm copper pipe drifted into the worn holes of the stand.  No drilling was needed and the stand doesn't smack the silencer any more.

I have no lathe or machining experience, just a lot of stuff knocking around that I like to make use of.

Cheers!

[Colsbeeza]

JHG,
My 1961 Flash has the original levers, plain with no ball ends.
Col

[Worty]

I'm afraid I've got ball ends !

[Greybeard]

I'm afraid I've got ball ends !

Too much information 😕

[jhg1958]

I like the idea of a repair. I have some 6 mm I’d stainless tube. My bolt is 6.25mm diameter. I think I can make that work then drill out the brake.

The worst that could happen is that I bugger up the whole thing and have to buy new ones, but that is what I would do anyway.

Why do levers have ball ends?  I have read that in a spill they break off at the end rather than the pivot. I can believe that for alloy levers but these are steel and will just bend. I ask because my GF is not original and if ball ended levers are better then maybe that is what I will Buy.

I will post pictures of the job when I have finished and any injuries I sustain inexpertly wielding power tools.

John

[RDfella]

Ball-ended levers are a requirement for racing, to prevent the pointed end of a lever puncturing the rider in the event of a spill.

[Worty]

Ball-ended levers are a requirement for racing, to prevent the pointed end of a lever puncturing the rider in the event of a spill.

Would suit my purposes then RD!

[jhg1958]

I thought I would update on my progress.
I drilled out some 6mm ID stainless tube to 7mm to take the pivot and drilled the lever hole out to 8mm.  The tube ID is 8.1 mm, so I heated up the lever bracket and cooled down the bit of tube.  It pressed in with a vice.  A touch with the file to get both sides flush and the jobs a good one.

See the photos. I really needed a thicker walled pipe as the 8 mm drill did not remove all the oval.  Since the pivot is 6.8 mm diameter the oval was very extreme.
 
Many thanks for the suggestion.
John

[Worty]

I thought I would update on my progress.
I drilled out some 6mm ID stainless tube to 7mm to take the pivot and drilled the lever hole out to 8mm.  The tube ID is 8.1 mm, so I heated up the lever bracket and cooled down the bit of tube.  It pressed in with a vice.  A touch with the file to get both sides flush and the jobs a good one.

See the photos. I really needed a thicker walled pipe as the 8 mm drill did not remove all the oval.  Since the pivot is 6.8 mm diameter the oval was very extreme.
 
Many thanks for the suggestion.
John

Nice job, and done far more delicately than mine!!