Front Wheel/ Brake binding?

[Bryanj]

People have been known to drill and tap the pivot arm and fit a grease nipple

[ColinHH]

I have written up a service schedule, largely based on the factory workshop manual. I'm going to add in giving the pivot a clean and re-grease every 2 years.

It is quite a vulnerable location, so im surprised this isn't observed more often.

Good Idea Martin, Is this service schedule something that you could share?

[Martin6]

Happy to. Is there a way to upload an Excel spreadsheet on here?

P.s. just noticed under my forum name it now says 'SOHC Expert'. Nice, but would fail the Trade Descriptions Act 

[Martin6]

Also thanks to the OP @ColinHH. I did a test ride this morning and the brakes no longer bind or squeal. The pivot pin was my issue. Front brakes still lack any feel or real punch though!

[Johnwebley]

Also thanks to the OP @ColinHH. I did a test ride this morning and the brakes no longer bind or squeal. The pivot pin was my issue. Front brakes still lack any feel or real punch though!

These are 50years old almost 1st generation disc brakes, good in the day,not as good as modern units,

They should improve after about 1,000miles usage, when the pads bed in

When you ride it ,and you're cruising along, lightly apply the brake, it will help it bed in

Sent from my SM-A546E using Tapatalk

[Martin6]

I'm about 300 miles into the pads. I'll give it a go. 👍

[Green1]

I've always found the best way to bed pads in is to lightly drag the brake on and off a few times to warm the disk up and then get a bit of speed up and don't be afraid to pull the lever hard a few times. 
Maybe do a few cycles and there as good as they will even be.

You will never go over the bars. But bedded in well and using the gearbox they stop ok.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Whilst my old XJ900 had brilliant disc brakes most of my previous bikes  had state of the art back in the day 1960s drums.  So my expectations of the 400 were pretty low - I have found them adequate provided my anticipation skills are switched on with no emergency stops required.

[Green1]

My biggest problem with 70's brakes isn't normally the front it's the rear drum. In that slight panic moment when you realise you need to stop suddenly. At a roundabout normally and you jab it to hard and lock up. For some reason it's really hard to tell your self to ease off

[ColinHH]

Whenever I swing my leg over the saddle, I go through a mental routine! i.e. I am on a 50 year old bike, and not my 2018 BMW, allow for a longer stopping distance, use the front and rear brake appropriately together with the gearbox to slow the bike down, Don’t expect it to stop! And I will mentally keep reminding myself during the ride.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Well said Colin.

[Martin6]

I've always found the best way to bed pads in is to lightly drag the brake on and off a few times to warm the disk up and then get a bit of speed up and don't be afraid to pull the lever hard a few times. 
Maybe do a few cycles and there as good as they will even be.

You will never go over the bars. But bedded in well and using the gearbox they stop ok.

I've tried this and it's worked. Reasonable front brake now. Thank you.

[florence]

The feel and feedback from the front brake is not very good on these bikes, not the best design.  However, what helped me was to find a very quiet road and do some emergency stop tests at different speeds using a fixed point at the side of the road and seeing how long it took to stop.  I was surprised that the actual braking distance was much better than I had thought.  Your bike should stop and if it doesn't, go over all the braking components again and check.  Also, getting the adjustment right is very important. Annoyingly, on my bike, and I don't know if this is the same for everyone but, when my brake stops squeaking, I know it's maintenance and adjustment time.

Also, I have recently put on a replacement master cylinder and this seems to have improved braking performance a lot.

[Green1]

Agree when the squeak stops it's normally due a tweek.

[Pauarc]

I change my front brake to twin disc much better