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Drum vs. disc brakes? Drum vs. disc brakes?
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Yamaha Tech Originally the Yamaha XT600 Tech Forum, due to demand it now includes all Yamaha's technical / mechanical / repair / preparation questions.
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  #1  
Old 10 Nov 2006
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Drum vs. disc brakes?
I have a 1984 TT600 (AHRMA classic BTW) and a 1986 XT600 with a Tenere tank. I'm not one into major restorations to have a garage queen of a TT, so I just want to take the nice suspension of the TT and toss it in the XT. The rear suspension looks like a drop-in swap (right?), and adds 1" of travel and a lot of adjustment.

The front also adds 1"...but I also would be forced to switch to drum brakes up front, instead of the fairly beefy front disk on the XT600. I'm hesitant to just swap the rear, because that would reduce trail, whereas a full suspension swap would increase it.

I can see the simplicity and reliability of the drum being a plus, but...will it stop me fast enough? I'm not doing any motard and typically run knobbies. Is it ok off-road? Is it safe around town or on the highway? Fully loaded with fuel the bike weighs 350lb, plus 150lb for me, with the possibility of another 50lb in gear.
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Old 10 Nov 2006
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£13 buys you Motorcycle Roadcraft (it's a book!), which will explain how to plan your road riding better so you don't need to use the brakes much at all. Maybe less hassle? You would actually have to read it mind you, simply buying the book doesn't improve your forward planning.

drum brakes take longer to stop you, but if you're looking further up the road it's no big deal.
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Old 10 Nov 2006
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Strangest response ever. Maybe I should remove the brakes entirely and rely on compression braking? Just need to look further up the road, right.

Seriously though, I have no idea how drum brakes differ from disc. Is it 25% more stopping distance? 50%? 100%? I want to be able to respond to emergency situations with confidence (not...OMG WHEN AM I GOING TO STOP???), but I don't need to do reverse wheelies either. That's the question. I might just end up doing the swap and seeing how it works out.

Looking up the road is fine and good, but sometimes you need to stop RIGHT NOW or slow the f- down because of a wash/barbed wire/chupacabra around a blind corner.
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  #4  
Old 10 Nov 2006
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How about an existentialist response: Does it matter if I stop? I could look further up the road, or I could use powerful brakes, but in a meaningless world, it is of no consequence whether I slow down or not; for to continue or to remain is an illusory distinction. If once, I saw stopping as the purpose in pressing the brake lever, I can now see the ultimate, inevitable finality of human existence in that simple motion--something that is far more poignant than merely coming to a halt at a red light. When the dark moment comes and I fly into the side of a car, this knowledge will provide me solace that no brakes could ever provide.
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Old 11 Nov 2006
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drum brakes were standard before, and I suspect (though it's a wild guess) just the same amount of people crashed (cars and bikes) as they do now. nothing to do with being able to stop quickly, a lot to do with not looking further up the road!

seriously though, drum brakes overheat and then are useless till they cool down (same as disc fluid overheating). but I guess you're not headed to a track day. if you really don't know, then go with the drums and you'll learn the difference for yourself. new cables and new shoes make a difference, but the 'how quickly do they stop me' question is a bit subjective. try them.

but if you plan to run knobblies then you are already reducing the potential stopping power of your brakes (not enough rubber on the road). an utterly unscientific guess for drum effectiveness, for me, would be 75% of the power of discs. that would be comparing a like for like bike, not an old XT vs a new GS. On a decent drum setup you can lock the front. Do you use your disc brakes at 75% or more of their potential? Maybe not if you have knobblies on.

having said that I ploughed through a Nigerian road block because my drum brakes wouldn't stop me in time. I think disc brakes would have saved me an awful lot of hassle that day.
Last edited by DougieB; 11 Nov 2006 at 08:28.
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Old 11 Nov 2006
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Drum brakes fail when they get hot or wet. If there is lots of downhills, rain, puddles etc in your travels then go for the disks. Drums are ancient technology and can be really dangerous - you are going back 50 years to consider regressing to drums.
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  #7  
Old 6 Dec 2006
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Drum versus disc, no contest, disc wins.
I`d go with spike, use another setup on front to give you the lift that has a disc fitted
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