How about this?

[Greybeard]

Thoughts?

[Joolstacho]

My thought? - I hope he's not relying on that front brake to stop him.

[Rex]

OIF conical brake plate? What's wrong with that? More than enough for a little SV Hardley lump.

[Joolstacho]

We can only speak from our own experience eh?
My experience with this brake was AWFUL!
Disregard power... That'll be a heavy lump to slow down.
Thank heavens I got the earlier TLS for my SR.

[Greybeard]

My thought? - I hope he's not relying on that front brake to stop him.

I had that front brake on my Triumph Trailblazer. I don't recall that it was a poor brake.

[Joolstacho]

Well maybe I got a friday arvo one. I tried to set it up well, (it was a complete original brake and wheel) -to no avail. Then I got the earlier TLS and it was great...  like chalk and cheese.

[BSA_54A10]

That looks very much like one of the regulars at the ABR down in Newsted .
If so it ran well & stopped well.

The comicals were the best brake BSA ever made.
Mine could happily lock the front wheel of the A65 L two up with camping gear from 80 mph
And it locked up more than once at 90 mph one up.

The problem is it needs to be adjusted properly which very few bother to do.
It needs a good cable with a tightly wound outer
The in line stop switch has to go
And if you want to stop the rear shoe trailing on the drum then a clock spring needed to be fitted

I could not count the number of times I have adjusted one properly, then instucted the rider how to use their "hopelessly inadequate brake" properly .
Those who listen & do were all very happy with the brake while those who could not be bothered ended up running up the bum of the car in front.

George Heggie raced both BSA & Triump trippels using that brake in production racing when they were new with great siccess often outbreakig  the Honda 4's fitted with discs.
Then a decade latter campained his old bikes in Historic racing running them on dope
Again no problems with stopping.
He did make some modifications
Some had a single clock spring on the rear lever to hold it off the drum
Others had a clock spring on both & no spring between the levers .

[Joolstacho]

I take your points Trev. It obviously needs mods and careful setting up.
Back in the day it did have a bad reputation... to the extent that people extended the brakeplate levers in an attempt to get more braking power. (Obviously requiring a different handlebar lever to give the required travel).
There was a prevalent opinion at the time that there was an overheating/distortion problem with the steel liner, -perhaps caused by that rear shoe rubbing, hence your 'clock spring' mod. I also remember criticism that the pressed steel brakeshoes distorted unevenly when they got hot. And that inline brakelight switch was an engineering joke wasn't it!

Perhaps it was a case of when the bikes aged a bit, things got a bit out of whack, and therefore got the less than ideal reputation when hamfisted blokes (like me ) started restoring them.
Anyway it's good to know they can be made to work well.

[Rex]

Those longer brake arms are still sold now in stainless, but to me, that's fixing the symptoms not the fault.
I had the OIF conical hub on a Bonnie for close on ten years as the daily pounder, and needed nothing other than basic setting up by the book and new linings, it was great.
Still had the original in-line brake switch but no additional mods or fannying-around with.
The only problem for me was the looks of the thing...it wasn't a patch on the previous TLS brake.

[Colsbeeza]

I think it looks Horny.!! Oh Sh it has a kick starter - not my favourite word lately.
Col

[BSA_54A10]

Those longer brake arms are still sold now in stainless, but to me, that's fixing the symptoms not the fault.
I had the OIF conical hub on a Bonnie for close on ten years as the daily pounder, and needed nothing other than basic setting up by the book and new linings, it was great.
Still had the original in-line brake switch but no additional mods or fannying-around with.
The only problem for me was the looks of the thing...it wasn't a patch on the previous TLS brake.

Yep you got it Rex
It is all in the setting up or rather lack of it
There was some one having a winge about them on a different forum a while back
Levers were pointing towards each other so I wonder why it did not work.
It is funny how everyone understands that the lever & cable on a normal brake  ( or clutch ) must be at a smaller angle to each other than 90 deg and when fully applies should be just short of 90 deg but when it comes to comicals thay are quite happly to have an angle of 120 deg or more and still expect the things to work.