Seeley Commando Which frame to choose

I definitely would not use a drum front brake unless you can afford the very best. Nearly every race crash I ever had was caused by a drum front brake. It is very difficult to get them both effective and reliable. Disc brakes are cheaper and work better. In the old days pudding-basin helmets and drum brakes were often a fatal combination. I use two Lockheed callipers with asbestos pads and steel discs. The operation is one finger and for racing, it needs to be. You only need to lock your front brake once in traffic and you could become a statistic.
 
I don’t follow Al’s extremist anti drum approach!

Good drums can be excellent. And there are some truly excellent offerings on the market today.

But...

1. Drums are heavy, and the increased unsprung weight on a light bike like a Seeley will be noticeable.

2. Drums are quite maintenance heavy. Keeping a 4 LS drum in optimal set up does require constant fiddling. And every time you fiddle, it’s a chance to get it wrong.

3. Some drums suffer bad fade, biting point, power and feel changes from lap to lap.

4. Good drum brakes are far more expensive than disc options.

So overall, for maintenance free, reliable, and powerful braking, discs are, on balance, best option.

But I’ve got drums on two of my bikes and am very happy with them.

So long as you know what you’re getting into, they’re fine.
 
Well i ve played with drum brakes somewhat, trued them, arched them, ran them, they can be good. For this bike I am probably gonna get a TZ Replica or a Robinson or a Ceriani replica, I ll see. They are very heavy and require maintenance I know but i like them and want to try on this one. I ve also tried single old style discs and the are not very god either but probably better than drums and cheaper too.
 
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When I was a kid, we only had drum brakes. Then the Yamaha TX500 four-stroke twin came out with a twin disc front end. One of out A-grade riders fitted the twin disc front end to his TR3 Yamaha in place of that huge drum brake. But the other guys were still using those big drums. I stood at the end of the front straight at Calder Raceway and watched him out-brake every one of them - about four guys fell off while trying to stay with him because of locking their drum brakes. They are unsafe at any speed. If you fit a soft and hard lining to the two shoes in a drum brake you might get mediocre braking for a full race on a short circuit, but on a big circuit they are fraught with danger. If the leader heats up and grabs, you are down. At Phillip Island, I once just barely touched the front brake and crashed onto the non-skid surface at about 90 MPH - I rolled every inch of the way. The only drum brakes which have ever seemed to have been any good were Oldanis. You used to find them fitted to Aermacchi Ala D'oro 350s.
 
Fast Eddie said:
I don’t follow Al’s extremist anti drum approach!

Good drums can be excellent. And there are some truly excellent offerings on the market today.

But...

1. Drums are heavy, and the increased unsprung weight on a light bike like a Seeley will be noticeable.

2. Drums are quite maintenance heavy. Keeping a 4 LS drum in optimal set up does require constant fiddling. And every time you fiddle, it’s a chance to get it wrong.

3. Some drums suffer bad fade, biting point, power and feel changes from lap to lap.

4. Good drum brakes are far more expensive than disc options.

So overall, for maintenance free, reliable, and powerful braking, discs are, on balance, best option.

But I’ve got drums on two of my bikes and am very happy with them.

So long as you know what you’re getting into, they’re fine.
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What can you do wrong with a disc brake front end ? If you don't use chrome plated discs, you have got brakes - end of story.
 
acotrel said:
What can you do wrong with a disc brake front end ? If you don't use chrome plated discs, you have got brakes - end of story.
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Quite right.

But that’s no reason not to have a good drum brakes if you want them!

Springer wants drums. He seems to know what he’s doing. That’s all there is to it.
 
I regard Springer as a friend. That is the reason I even commented about drum brakes. When I was a kid, I could easily have died in my first race crash. Drum brakes are not for beginners. They might look good, but one which is not set up with extreme care and tested can be very dangerous. There are too many ways of getting them wrong. There was a guy at Winton the other day who had a 920cc Triton with a huge Laverda drum brake fitted. I said I would not like to ride it, but I lied. I would ride it, but I would have that brake apart and carefully inspected for loose spindles etc. , before I did.
 
Thanks, it will be some time until i decide for the parts and the final shape of the bike, i ll definitely take into consideration all advice.
 
I would like to be in your situation. These days I probably would not use a Commando engine. A 1000cc Harley Sportster engine with a 5 speed close ratio gear-set, in a Mk3 Seeley frame might be very exciting.
 
Thanks, it is very nice. I have fiddled with Harleys, In fact i have a 94 Springer and a 63 original FL police one. With the Seeley i will take my time. in my country this kind of bike cannot get license plates except historic vehicle ones and for very limited use. so in order to get historic plates it has to be at least some kind of bike that existed in some form. But the real reason is that i wanted for a long time to build a British cafe/or racer.
 
If you are going to be serious about motorcycles, you need two - one for the road-race circuit. Buy yourself something Japanese for the public roads. And build yourself something you really love for the fun of it. You will never realise the full potential of a Seeley Commando on public roads. When they are used as God intended, they are a real joy.
 
Here is a little information which might be useful for somebody :

The rear shock length on my Mk3 Seeley is 330mm. The rear shock spring rate is important. I think it is about 80 pounds for every inch compression. At full squirt coming out of tight corners, the rear end squats at least 2 inches, and the bike tightens it's line a lot.
 
Sorry to bump up this old thread, but I got curious after reading this and am not really finding anyone making the Seeley (repro) frames in a brief search. Is there a specific company that's making these, or are you guys finding old frames to build the bike on?
 
or mail to dennis.barber1 at tesco.net he had made an MK2 and a MK3 for me years ago , but dunno, if still in business there is a guy in germany too........if still interested could find him (he makes also alloy tank ......).
 
ah, thanks guys. I had come across the minnovation racing site, but from what I saw there they'll only build a full bike around an engine you send them (not just sell the frame/chassis part), is that correct?
 
A while back, I looked at Kenny Cummins web site. It even gave the details of the steering geometry of his Seeley. But I noticed that when I looked again recently, he has changed the page. It now refers you to his mechanic.
 
jae said:
Sorry to bump up this old thread, but I got curious after reading this and am not really finding anyone making the Seeley (repro) frames in a brief search. Is there a specific company that's making these, or are you guys finding old frames to build the bike on?
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Roger Titchmarsh has the rights to produce Seeley frames. I am sure his telephone number is on Minnovation’s website. He doesn’t do email or web.
 

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