MZ TS250 Front Brake Upgrade!

[Kruh]

I did that a few times, but with sandpaper. It seems though that I haven't done a good job then.

I did clean the cam, and added grease, helps but still not good enough.

Inboard lever is the main reason i wanted to install a tear break on the front. Since the lenght is limited when inboard

[Kruh]

An update regarding those new brake shoes.

They suck.
After more than 2000 km there was absolutely no improvement in braking performance. They never properly broke in. They never made contact with more than ~50% surface area, and they would get glazed pretty easily. As stated in previous posts I did try sanding the glazed areas but didn't help much. I guess the material is just very poor quality.
Even the casting is bad. They are a bit croocked, so when braking they moved to the side and started grinding on the inner side of the hub. Also, they have much more play on the shaft itself than the original.

Overall, do not buy those cheap brand new shoes.

I dug up my old original shoes which I plan on using. There's not a lot of meat, but some thicker spacers will do the trick. After those wear out, I will just get new braking material glued on the original shoes.

[Puffs]

Removed

[Kruh]

I seriously doubt it. Don't think the hub would be that weak. If it was deformed, it would "pulse" when braking.

I tried the 40 yr old brakes today and the braking performance is way batter.

[Kruh]

This brake upgrade still crosses my mind from time to time.
My lateast thought led me to the rear brake of the ETZ. It lacks that extension of the TS rear brake. Which makes it a closer fit to the original front brake.
Looking at a couple of photots, the rear ETZ brake does seem a bit slimmer than the rear TS brake.

Does anyone know the width of this center portion?

[dave47]

I think they are the same except one has a decorative finish and the other is plain. Etz250 width is approximately 43/44mm

[Kruh]

I feared that was the case.

But just to clarify, are you referring to this type on the photo bellow or the older type with the extension for the torque arm?

[dave47]

I was referring to this type from an ETZ250, and comparing it to those on the TS250/1. I've got a supa5 brake plate on my ETZ at the moment.

[Kruh]

I see. Thanks anyways.
I had the newer type in mind. That type is from later etz 250 models I assume, or maybe the 150. At the very least seems the 251 had it.
In any case, that one seemed narrower to me on the photos. But its very likely its the same width.

Does anyone maybe know about that newer type? If its from the 150, is it even the same diameter?

[Guesi]

This newer type was on the ETZ 251.
The ETZ 150 had smaller brake shoes (150 mm) compared to the 251 (160 mm)

[Kruh]

I looked a bit more into it. Found a picture with specifications.
Turns out that newer type brake is the same on the 251 as on the 150. So it is also 150 mm.
Meaning, this is another dead end.

[Guesi]

This is not right. They look the same, but they are different in diameter.

[dave47]

I saw this not long ago on ebay.

[Kruh]

Thanks dave
This is the first proof I've seen. If only we knew where he took material off and how the wheel sits.
This does make me want to revisit this in practice, measure and check everything once again.

If I can actually get it down to only a 2 mm offset (like disscused on previous page), I don't belive it would cause much of an issue.

[mr_luke]

If you'd rather have the torque arm acting in tension - which would be preferable - why not swap the fork legs side to side, so the brake is on the other side?

My Supa 5 brake plate has been fitted (by a previous owner) with the cam and lever from a rear brake. The bore for the cam has been drilled out, and an aluminium spacer has been fitted on the outside, under the lever. A neater job would have been to have the spacer welded on before extending the bore. The cable anchor is just a small piece of angled steel bolted on to the outside of the plate. It is a little agricultural, but it does give a fairly effective brake.

I do intend to fit shims to the shoes as I did that to the drum-braked ETZ250 I owned several years ago and it gave a noticeable improvement.