Tall Rider OK on XS400?

[bcware]

If you've ridden at all before I highly doubt it was user error: new people just tend to panic and death grip the front brake, but that isn't what happened in your case. I had to check though!

Drums work great. In fact, I have heard of them being used on a few rally cars in rear. The are less powerful, but not that much so. The problem with drums is that they do not dissipate heat well, so if you're braking hard often (as in racing) then your brakes will fade quickly. For normal street use I see no real downside.

There is a threaded rod on the outside of the drum below the front axle bolt. Threading this rod in or out will change the pre-load on the drums (bring them farther or closer to the point of engagement). The threaded rod essentially just pushes a lever, which pushes another lever, which spreads the shoes. Alternatively, for more extreme adjustments you can actually pull off the pivoting levers and change the angle they rest at on their respective toothed shafts.

I could easily feel my shoes grabbing on the front, so I just adjusted the pre-load or tension on the brake lever until it felt right for me.

 

[drewpy]

please don't change the angles, it can flip the shoes into the drum locking it up, or cause the leverage to be so bad you can't stop.

The best angles are the ones yamaha have come up with. there should be little dots on the respective arms and on the end of the pivot shafts which match up!