MZ TS250 Front Brake Upgrade!

[KFG]

Totally agree with upgrade of cable .Use the venhill thick one , think the type is LBT3 but need to check that . Makes a lot of difference . Cheaper ones ,inner quickly stretches and the outer compresses and brake disappears .Well worth it along with a brake drum skim you can get brake up to decent standard . The brake adjustment plates that fit on the shoes are available from most German parts suppliers in 1 , 1.5 and 2 mm thickness and good price if buying other stuff to justify postage .

[Blurredman]

Cheaper ones ,inner quickly stretches and the outer compresses and brake disappears ..

I've had that happen! Says something at how bad the original brake set up is when you can depress the lever so much due to lack of braking that the cable sheeth just compresses..

[Pat the Jawa]

The front brake shoes are beginning to bed in but they're taking their time which shows the linings should last well. Now onto the braking efficiency - to illustrate how well the brake works it's now possible to do 'stoppies'! I'm not going to claim that stoppies are achievable doing 90 mph but whilst riding around town it's quite easy to get the front wheel to squeal on the tarmac. All in all a simple upgrade and with the addition of the EBC brake shoes I now have a working front brake.

[breakwellmz]

Give brake shoe surfaces some `lead`with file, it will make it less `snatchy`......handy at low speeds/greasy surfaces.

[Pat the Jawa]

Thanks for the advice. When I wrote that it's easy to get the front wheel to squeal around town, it was only meant as an illustration of how good the brake works. The brake is quite progressive and handles the weight of two up really well - feels a bleddy sight safer when I take the wife pillion

[breakwellmz]

Here`s one way of improving the front brake on an ETZ, so subtle as well!(Comstar?) -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mz-etz-250/3 ... 1438.l2649

[rightsideup]

DECENT QUALITY CABLES!.......make so much difference.

Agreed, A £14 Venhill cable has transformed my front brake.

EDIT>>>
I've now added 2 x 1mm spacers similar to the OP - I bought mine here.
https://www.ost2rad.com/MZ-Spare-Parts/Driving-mechanism-Brakes/Intersituation-brake-shoe-MZ.html



Along with the Venhill cable I now have a very powerful front brake.

[Kruh]

I've tried this method. I installed brand new shoes and shims. Done a few rides, after which i dissassembeld the front wheel and cleaned the hub and shoes with brake cleaner.
Overall the braking was better that with the original parts, but still quite dissapointing.

I have a hard time finding wheels/brakes from other bikes to fit.
But I had an simpler and cheaper idea.
Currently I'm looking into fitting the rear brake to the front. Since it has a much longer lever than the front one, it will provide more force.

Has anyone done this before?


The brake fits in the hub with no issues.
Only problem is that its sticks out more. It is 9.5 mm wider.
I can cut 7-8 mm at most off the brake. Which means that the wheel will be pushed about 2 mm to the left. I don't think that will be an issue.

Only thing left then is to fabricate a cable holder and find a shorter cable

[Blurredman]

Hi,

Yes it has been done before. I think there are actually one or two threads on this forum.. Though I just had a quick look and couldn't see them.

[Puffs]

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[Kruh]

Yeah, I agree that a pulling arrangment would be preferable. However, the pushing method is more convinient because the arm wont stick out as much, and the arm/fixation point on the backing plate gives me a place to fabricate a mount for the cable.
I intended to make that bar out of some thicher steel and shorter than the original one to make sure it doesn't bend.


How can I make a lever with a longer arm on the stock front brake, since the lever is inside the hub? If I make it longer it would hit the hub.

Only option is I see is to drill out the hole of the cam and install the rear break cam and arm externally.
Only issue then is making some sort of cable mount. Which would require welding. Or perhaps using some bolt on method.

[Blurredman]

I wouldn't have thought that arm would bend. It looks like the original torque stay for a front of a drum model.

However, there is more leverage/pressure being put on it- but they are very thick. The same as the rear torque arm.

[Puffs]

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[Kruh]

I'm sticking with the stock front brake for now.
After taking off the wheel and brake I discovered that the pads were braking with about 30-40% of their surface. No wonder the braking performance is poor.
More brake bedding needs to be done.

Another thing I was unsatisfied with was the brake feel. The brake lever always feels sticky and like it never returns properly. That is kind of true, it seems to me that the spring on the pads just isn't enough to fully return the cam. This also means the pads touch the hub a bit even if there is freeplay in the brake lever.
Anyways, I did this cam return spring mod mainly because the feel. From other bikes I'm used to the brake lever nicely springing back in place. And as far as I know most bikes with drums have some sort of additional spring to return the lever on the brake itself (usually on the cable).

I just welded a small piece of steel, drilled two holes and installed a pull spring

The result: the lever feel is way better, just how I like it


There you go, just an idea.

[Puffs]

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