Wanted to bounce a few ideas off the gurus here. On my heavy weight (Porker class) "Jimmy Gote" I am building, I am not getting the braking action I want. I have a 6" band brake on the rear axle with a long cable going to a lever. As it stands, squeezing the lever is more of a request for less speed, with a committee involved. The lever is a little short on throw, plus I see the cable flex a lot. Is it worth replacing the lever with a longer throw? or replacing most of the cable with a hard line? By hard line I was thinking of a length of auto brake line, then cable last couple feet. I don't have room to mount the band brake on the jackshaft. Or should I bite the bullet and go with a hydraulic disc? I want to stay with a hand brake rather than a foot brake. Just think hand brake would be easier in a lot of ways, loading and unloading, pushing the bike if it's stuck, teaching new riders, etc. But will a mini bike juice brake have enough force? Or should I go with a motorcycle caliper and a hydraulic clutch/lever? Or just bite the bullet, make a foot brake for what I got and stomp harder? I even thought of a 10" disc on the rear with a pair of calipers and using two levers. Any ideas or thoughts?
I by far am not as experienced as others here BUT the short leverage on the brake lever is the first hurdle to cross.. An increase of 1/8'' will increase braking effect tremendously. You can read my Super Bronc thread and see where I changed the levers because they had short travel. You can go up in cable size if you are not already using a brake sized cable. Do a little research and make sure you have a "brake" sized cable. A throttle sized cable will stretch to much. And lastly quit a few members on OldMiniBikes have changed to a foot pedal with a direct link for this vey reason. So it is a viable alternative.
The "hardline" scenario you are thinking about will only give you increased effort and friction against a bare cable. The alterative would be to use a hardline and run the cable conduit inside of it.... Hard to do if the cable already has crimped on ends.
I would change the levers and increase the cable size to get the needed function.
I used these levers on my SB. They have a sufficient ratio to give good braking.
NOS Vintage Rupp Bonanza Artic Cat Ruttman Fox Mini Bike Cherry 1" Brake Lever
Doug
The "hardline" scenario you are thinking about will only give you increased effort and friction against a bare cable. The alterative would be to use a hardline and run the cable conduit inside of it.... Hard to do if the cable already has crimped on ends.
I would change the levers and increase the cable size to get the needed function.
I used these levers on my SB. They have a sufficient ratio to give good braking.
NOS Vintage Rupp Bonanza Artic Cat Ruttman Fox Mini Bike Cherry 1" Brake Lever
Doug
Last edited:
It was sold as a mini bike brake cable, but is a lot smaller than motorcycle stuff, but larger than the throttle cable I bought, but not by much. Trying to find someone here that makes cables as I need a pretty long one. Not finding one on line. I need something around 72 inches. I see where for a couple hundred bucks I can buy bulk lengths and make my own,,,. Been looking at starting at the brake with a hard linkage than changing to a more standard length cable.
Last edited:
Here is a good starting point,
https://www.OldMiniBikes.com/
Do a little studying here about cable sizes and measure what you have.
Flanders Cable Parts Search Results
Here is a good source that I have used in the past.
Go Kart Galaxy - Throttle Cable & Fittings
Go Kart Galaxy - Throttle & Brake Controls
Doug
https://www.OldMiniBikes.com/
Do a little studying here about cable sizes and measure what you have.
Flanders Cable Parts Search Results
Here is a good source that I have used in the past.
Go Kart Galaxy - Throttle Cable & Fittings
Go Kart Galaxy - Throttle & Brake Controls
Doug
A good motorcycle lever/perch, and sturdy cable, with the band brake clean, adjusted and in the self-energizing direction, should easily stop the supertanker of mini bikes.
Something along these lines should handle the task with far less flex.
https://www.cyclesdepot.com/cables/1118-75HandBrakeCableforGY650-150ccATVQuadGokartsTaotaoBaja.html
Drums, like bands, that are set up right, stop fine. Repeated high speed use can degrade performance by overheating. Rarely an issue. Semi trucks manage just fine...
Juice brakes rock. Self-adjusting, powerful, relatively light, easy hose routing. That's the route I'm taking on my hotter ElBurro fatso.
Some snowmobile bits, even the cable units, are good, and some have a 1" jackshaft.
87 86 85 84 YAMAHA SRV 540 BRAKE CALIPER CABLE PADS DISC ROTOR KEY BRAKES
Something along these lines should handle the task with far less flex.
https://www.cyclesdepot.com/cables/1118-75HandBrakeCableforGY650-150ccATVQuadGokartsTaotaoBaja.html
Drums, like bands, that are set up right, stop fine. Repeated high speed use can degrade performance by overheating. Rarely an issue. Semi trucks manage just fine...
Juice brakes rock. Self-adjusting, powerful, relatively light, easy hose routing. That's the route I'm taking on my hotter ElBurro fatso.
Some snowmobile bits, even the cable units, are good, and some have a 1" jackshaft.
87 86 85 84 YAMAHA SRV 540 BRAKE CALIPER CABLE PADS DISC ROTOR KEY BRAKES
