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Have you ever really ridden where you have needed good brakes, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. The front brake is the main thing which limits the speed you can safely achieve on a motorcycle,  I raced for about ten years with drum brakes against bikes which had disc brakes,  With disc brakes, you can go faster for longer without crashing,  Drum brakes change as you use them.  With a two-stroke racer - the motor is usually fast until it heats up, and if the front brake is a drum, it usually either fades as it heats up, or the linings become more sticky and make it grab.  Which way would be the best way to go ? Disc brakes are far superior, but finding the right pads and disc material is not easy.  Ross Barelli came to road racing out of motocross.  He was sponsored to ride an RG500 Suzuki at Bathurst.  Because the discs on the bike were chromium-plated aluminium, and the chromium spalled - his father made two discs out of cast iron.  They exploded off the bike at the end of Conrod Straight.  Ross was climbing off the back of the bike as he passed Mick Hone.  He died in the spectator area. In those circumstances, the rider usually experiences time dilation. In the old days the combination of drum brakes and pudding basin helmets killed a lot of guys.