The Electra shows its cheapskate FB origins in a number of areas although many of the design features seem excellent. One thing I think awful is the mickey mouse rear brake stop which is merely a bit of bent tin trapped under the footrest. So at something of a loose end - it is the festive season after all - I set to to make an improvement. It consists of a folded piece of 16 gauge steel held between the swinging arm pivot underneath the styling panel and the pedal pivot. A 1/4" clearance hole with a nut JB welded to it holds an adjusting screw which then bears on an abutment - again 16 gauge, and again held by JB weld to the pedal as the narrow section here would not provide a good bearing location. I used JB weld as I only have a stick welder and my welding is of the pigeon dropping standard.
The bracket (eagle eyed viewers will note I initially got the fixing hole distance slightly wrong!
The abutment on the brake lever:
Electra rear brake lever
Hi John,
Firstly would you be able to advise where the spring you've used can be sourced from ?
Secondly can you advise how you moved the brake pedal outwards and by how much?
Thanks,
Alan
- Log in to post comments
Brake pedal spacer
Hi Alan. I moved the pedal out by 10mm. To do this I made a "top-hat" shaped spacer held in place by an M5 cap head screw. Another spacer sits between pedal and frame. Needed to do this to stop the pedal hitting the silencer.
That was the easy bit! I couldn't find a suitable spring so made one.
The spring is made from an old valve spring, Morris Minor I think. I softened it, bent it to shape, then re-heat treated the springyness back in to the spring. Took a couple of goes to get working.
- Log in to post comments
Thanks John - I have the…
Thanks John - I have the same problem with the pedal fouling the silencer. I had resolved to do either as you did or drill out the pivot in its entirety and insert a longer replacement. On reflection i feel more comfortable with the option you've gone for.
- Log in to post comments
Strangely enough...
... my brake pedal doesn't touch the silencer. I wonder whether my silencers are further back than others?
- Log in to post comments
Touching silencer
My brake pedal touched the round bit of the silencer that clamps around the pipe.
How are the exhaust pipes meant to be fixed? Originally my pipes had holes that fitted over the spacers on the foot peg mounting. I changed that so the pipes are now clamped tight between the spacers on the foot peg mount. I found I could twist the pipe inwards, this helped with the pedal clouting the silence. Likewise the other side, to stop the kick start touching the silencer.
I increased the "bend" in the silencer mounting brackets to tuck them in.
- Log in to post comments
Not sure I agree with you on the pedal stop, it's cheap to make and effective, does have the look of an after thought though.
What is miserly is the lack of a return spring for the pedal. I don't like the idea of relying on the brake shoe return springs. It is, I believe, unsatisfactory. I have fitted a return spring to the pedal.
Makes for a better feel to the pedal.
Incidentally, I had to move the pedal outwards to stop it touching the exhaust pipe.