Drum brake hubs

[rdolan]

Are the front and rear hubs the same, or are they unique?

[Ricks]

They are very similar, the front is 1" narrower than the rear and the holes for the spokes on the non-drum side are slotted to allow the spokes to pass thru.  Wayne told me it is possible to narrow the hub and slot the holes to work.  The brake shoes are the same, as are the shoes used in the automatic clutches.

[rdolan]

OK, thanks.

[Mike Sal]

What kind of expense is it to convert a front wheel to have brakes?
thanks,
Mike Sal

[Ricks]

I did this on my 53 automatic.  The parts to do it was $300, not including spokes.  I was putting on new spokes, so I just got the correct ones for the drum brake hub.  New spokes are $40 per wheel.

As a note, with the simplex  leading link front end design, when you use the front brake, the front end rises.  It is a weird feeling.

[Mike Sal]

I hadn't thought about the influence of the suspension.  Do you have any concerns about stability when on rough roads (like trying to stop on a washboarded road)?
Mike Sal

[Ricks]

To be honest, I don't think the front brake is necessary.  The rear brake stops the bike fine.  I haven't ridden on a rough road, but I don't think it would be much of a problem.

[simplexguy]

If you plan to put a front brake on , make sure your front fork assembly has the two stop nuts on top of the fork the earlier models didn't have them. when the front brakes came out they realized that the front end came up as mentioned in the eariler post, and could pull the forks out of the holes. I'm sure that would not be fun riding down the road and have that happen.

[Ricks]

Do you happen to have a photo of these stop nuts?  I looked in my parts books, and the only ones I saw were on the simplex sportsman front end with the upper and lower fork springs.  The sportsman front end looks like it would be much smoother under braking with this arrangement.

I just checked on a front end I'm putting together for my truck and it doesn't appear to me that the fork could pull out of the top holes as the spring supports stick far enough through the holes that they cannot come out without removing the lower rocker bolts.       

[Mike Sal]

I got another clue that the poor guy who fixed my bike up never got to enjoy it (I was told he passed away after finishing it).  When he repainted the back wheel, he painted over everything, including the interior of the brake drum.  There's no evidence the back brake was ever applied to rub any of the paint off. 
Mike Sal