21 April, 2010

Brake and Air Cleaner/Horn

I finally figured out a simple solution for Ratty's brake mechanism. I decided I didn't want a foot operated rear brake, as I wanted some flexibility in where I mounted the footpegs. And since I don't plan on running a front brake, I decided to make the normal front brake lever operate the rear brake.

I had several sets of spare cable, some intended for brakes, some intended for clutches. I think I ended up using a spare clutch cable off a CB160. I had a piece of aluminum casting in the junk drawer that looked just right for locating the end adjuster piece on the outer cable sheath.

Cable attaches to the Trail 55 rear brake arm:


Small bracket made from spare aluminum casting found in junk drawer:


I also got the air cleaner/horn mounted on the carb:


I decided to keep the main body of the horn in raw fiberglass, and give the outer plate the rust treatment. Small wire mesh keeps out the bugs:


C'

4 comments:

sean said...

Nice! I dig the horny carb.

Why no front brake? Do you not want to be able to stop? Or are you just wanting to do wicked brake slides when backing this beast into the corners...?

Chris said...

I have found that the front brakes on most of my little bikes don't really add a lot to the stopping power. I just figured a rear brake would be "ok" enough, and didn't want the hassle of a foot operated unit.

And I'm not sure this tiny little 4" rear drum will be very successful at locking up anything!

sean said...

I wonder if the hand lever will offer enough leverage to get that thing to do much? Might need to use a longer lever arm at the drum (if you didn't already do that) to compensate for not being able to stomp on it.

Especially if you really do get this thing over 50mph :)

Chris said...

I figure the first drive down the road at 30mph will be my test. I've got a few extra brake levers, and could always make something up if I needed a lot more mechanical advantage. Also, one thing to remember, 40mph will likely be 8,000rpm, and shutting the throttle at that rpm is liking putting out the chute.