Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arrived

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Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

I really like the fact that it is a MK3 Seeley. I think that is what Gus Kuhn mostly used. What you have got seems to really be a part of history, even if it is a replica. It is what they were ! And it is much better without the Japanese hubs - I really hate having any Japanese bits on a British racing bike. On my Seeley, I still have about 4 minor items and they really irritate me. I often see a lot of very nice bikes, but as soon as the bits on them look out of character, I stop looking - that is just me - old and silly.
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

Fast Eddie said:
yves norton seeley said:
acotrel said:
Yves, would you please post a photo of the right hand side of the bike ? I am very impressed. - You have set an example for others to follow.
Click to expand...
You ask, we play
Note: i find a better way now for the cable from the rear brake
Yves
Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arrived
res 6 by marina kips, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Looks like it needs cleaning Yves...
Click to expand...
Keeping your bike clean, keep the bike healty! When cleaning you can discover any missing bolt and so on and you avoid some disasters
Yves
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

acotrel said:
I really like the fact that it is a MK3 Seeley. I think that is what Gus Kuhn mostly used. What you have got seems to really be a part of history, even if it is a replica. It is what they were ! And it is much better without the Japanese hubs - I really hate having any Japanese bits on a British racing bike. On my Seeley, I still have about 4 minor items and they really irritate me. I often see a lot of very nice bikes, but as soon as the bits on them look out of character, I stop looking - that is just me - old and silly.
Click to expand...
The only japanese bits I still have on the bike are the Keihin FCR 35mm from CNW and they are working great, thanks Matt!
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

I've got a tacho with a Suzuki 'S' in it, which I cannot get apart to paint-out the 'S'. It is a dead ringer for those which were used on Italian bikes of the 60s. My fork yokes look the part, but are TZ350 Yamaha and anyone who was around in the 70s would know what they are. I've got a Japanese rear master cylinder and a Honda rear calliper. All of these things detract from the bike. It is rare to see any retro or historic bike which is correct in detail. A few years ago I was at Phillip Island and saw a pristine, very correct Velocette Thruxton. It was really lovely to look at because it was so perfect. I don't care about polish - only authenticity. Your bike is very shiny, but that is not what is important about it. What you have done is a very good thing and well worth the money. Just knowing that your bike exists, means something to me. I am going to get a medium-sized print of the photo of the right hand side of your bike, frame it and hang it on my wall.
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

A lot of nice parts there and it looks beautiful. If I may, a suggestion for an easy reduction of your rear un-sprung weight, would be to flip your shocks over.
Bill
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

pantah_good said:
A lot of nice parts there and it looks beautiful. If I may, a suggestion for an easy reduction of your rear un-sprung weight, would be to flip your shocks over.
Bill
Click to expand...
Hi Bill,
Of course I try to put the shocks the right way, but was not possible with the Seeley frame, but it don't matter witch way you put the gaz tank, the shocks works at any position
Yes, it is un-sprung weight but very little
Yves
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

acotrel said:
I've got a tacho with a Suzuki 'S' in it, which I cannot get apart to paint-out the 'S'. It is a dead ringer for those which were used on Italian bikes of the 60s. My fork yokes look the part, but are TZ350 Yamaha and anyone who was around in the 70s would know what they are. I've got a Japanese rear master cylinder and a Honda rear calliper. All of these things detract from the bike. It is rare to see any retro or historic bike which is correct in detail. A few years ago I was at Phillip Island and saw a pristine, very correct Velocette Thruxton. It was really lovely to look at because it was so perfect. I don't care about polish - only authenticity. Your bike is very shiny, but that is not what is important about it. What you have done is a very good thing and well worth the money. Just knowing that your bike exists, means something to me. I am going to get a medium-sized print of the photo of the right hand side of your bike, frame it and hang it on my wall.
Click to expand...
Hi Acotrel
What a honnor! you embrasing me...
Yves
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

I was wondering if there might have been an interference problem mounting the shocks the other way around. Those Ohlins shocks have a nice little vintage appearance to them, and look great on your bike. I searched back to see if you mentioned them in earlier posts, but couldn't find anything. Do they have a bit of history to them?
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

A very fine machine Yves, must be the best looking Commando I have ever seen.
You already noticed that the rim of the rearwheel is drileld incorrrectly, to get tis right is the easy part, finding an elegant solution for the rear brake cable is much harder, do you have an idea how you are going to tacle this problem ?
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

Peter R said:
A very fine machine Yves, must be the best looking Commando I have ever seen.
You already noticed that the rim of the rearwheel is drileld incorrrectly, to get tis right is the easy part, finding an elegant solution for the rear brake cable is much harder, do you have an idea how you are going to tacle this problem ?
Click to expand...
I put the cable behind the frame tube with a smal hole in the mudguards, it's already look better, but I am still not fully satisfied
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

pantah_good said:
I was wondering if there might have been an interference problem mounting the shocks the other way around. Those Ohlins shocks have a nice little vintage appearance to them, and look great on your bike. I searched back to see if you mentioned them in earlier posts, but couldn't find anything. Do they have a bit of history to them?
Click to expand...

I give them the vintage look, originaly the gas cans where gold anodized and the springs black, so I polish the cans and chromed the springs, and now they look 40 years older
Yves
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

Yves. Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

I had a big magnesium Fontana on my first Commando. It was wonderful. No issues with "locking up"
Good riders didn't lock 'em up.
That said, proper set up was necessary both for power and release and you can feel it when it's right and if you don't well then . . . It's like cutting yourself with a dull knife versus knowing when to sharpen to it
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

xbacksideslider said:
Yves. Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

I had a big magnesium Fontana on my first Commando. It was wonderful. No issues with "locking up"
Good riders didn't lock 'em up.
That said, proper set up was necessary both for power and release and you can feel it when it's right and if you don't well then . . . It's like cutting yourself with a dull knife versus knowing when to sharpen to it
Click to expand...

Hi Xblacksidesliders,
Here is the way I use to set up my Fontana's
1:losten the cabels
2:losten one of the pins thats holds the rod between the two cam levers
3:Put two spaners on the bolts that hold the levers in place
4: Put presurre onthe spaners so the liners are in contact with the drums
5:look then if the hole inthe rod is facing the hole in the lever
6:Adjust the rod till when the holes are facing each other

Then go to the next GP and try to brake out Rossi
Yves
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

I've had the experience of blasting out of a corner and down a very long straight and winding the bike right out, then starting to apply the front brake while at top speed and going straight over the handlebars onto a non-skid surface at about 90 MPH. In my 7R front brake I used to use two grades of lining - a hard and a soft. At the start of a race the soft one would work and later fade, after a few laps the hard one would start to work. If you are competing against bikes which have disc brakes and your bike has drum brakes, there is always a danger that they will pop in front of you and out-brake you. So your front brake needs to be one-finger operation. And therein lies a problem - if you are out of practice, you are likely to crash yourself. In Australia, the pre 62 class in historic racing requires drum brakes on all bikes. To compete in that class you need two things - the $6000 close ratio gearbox and the $6000 front brake and the rest has to be reasonably fast.
If you are going to use a drum brake in anger, make sure to cut the leading edges of the linings well back. If they heat up they can become sticky and you only have to touch the brake to crash. The other thing is to make sure that all the pivot points are neat fits and non-binding. If the brake stays on and drags, it can steer you off the road.
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

acotrel said:
I've had the experience of blasting out of a corner and down a very long straight and winding the bike right out, then starting to apply the front brake while at top speed and going straight over the handlebars onto a non-skid surface at about 90 MPH. In my 7R front brake I used to use two grades of lining - a hard and a soft. At the start of a race the soft one would work and later fade, after a few laps the hard one would start to work. If you are competing against bikes which have disc brakes and your bike has drum brakes, there is always a danger that they will pop in front of you and out-brake you. So your front brake needs to be one-finger operation. And therein lies a problem - if you are out of practice, you are likely to crash yourself. In Australia, the pre 62 class in historic racing requires drum brakes on all bikes. To compete in that class you need two things - the $6000 close ratio gearbox and the $6000 front brake and the rest has to be reasonably fast.
If you are going to use a drum brake in anger, make sure to cut the leading edges of the linings well back. If they heat up they can become sticky and you only have to touch the brake to crash. The other thing is to make sure that all the pivot points are neat fits and non-binding. If the brake stays on and drags, it can steer you off the road.
Click to expand...

Hi Acotrel,
If I understand your theory: using two grades of linings, you always use half of the power from your brake, when cold, the soft one will work when cold and later in the race the hard one would start to work, but by then the soft one would fade???
 
Re: Finally my Fontana magnesium 2ls rear drum brake has arr

If you ever race a two stroke with drum brakes and don't use two grades of lining, - using soft linings, the motor gets slower as the brakes get worse, both due to heat. Or if you use hard linings, you start with a fast motor and poor brakes which improve as the motor goes slower. With a Commando using drum brakes, you need to be ready for the death dive going into corners, so climb off the side of the bike and drag it around. Or if you set it up to be deadly, stay in practice.
If you listen to me, I will teach you how to crash.
 
Hi All.
I have for sale an original 210 Fontana rear brake (not replica) laced on 19x40VM3 Borrani rim.
If you are interested send me your mail and i will send you pictures.
Piero
 
Can these 210 Fontana's be mounted either way, to be cable-pulled from the left or right side?
Are there other issues with putting them on an otherwise stock Commando?
 
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