Hi,

I've been looking at replacement brake shoes for my 1971 CT1. I bought some from Ebay that fit but can barely stop the bike at all, I know drum brakes aren't great but the engine brake is more effective than the real brakes. I arc'd them and centered them in the wheel, still no dice, so I am looking at replacing them with either Yamaha pads, semi-sintered, or fully sintered EBC pads. Does anyone here have recommendations for what they like the best for stopping? I don't need them to last a long time and they don't need to be good at high temperatures, just good at stopping with preferably a decent bite from cold.

Also, I reassembled the front end a few months ago but then didn't torque the steering stem for a while because it is winter so the bikes are low priority projects right now. Having trouble getting the proper torque on it. With it tight enough that there isn't play in the triple trees the steering is very loose, I have to tighten it a large amount to get it to not fall over at low steering angles and bounce off the stops. Part of that is probably the bike being at a weird angle, tilted back because of the way I have to get it on my stand with the footpegs. Do you guys have a particular way you like to lift the front end while keeping the bike even?

Thank you!

I'm wondering if the brake cable is adjusted? If you brake hard enough on a "normal" bike it has enough stopping power to lock up a tire and skid.

With the steering stem, Yamaha had a bad system of running the top adjustable cone on the threaded part of the stem which makes it a loose fit for a start. Then over the years the threads get flattened off with unwanted movement making a bad situation worse. So there's no easy answer. On one of mine i welded the adjuster nut to the cone which sorts it but the you then need to devise some way of having a shield deep enough to cover the extra depth of cone plus nut. Lock-nut goes on top of all that of course. By holding the front brake hard on "if it works" then pushing forward you'll feel the play. & if you tighten it over-tight & push hard you'll feel it click forward & stay there but if you pull back with brake on & it'll click back. Could bronze weld the stem & machine to a good fit but you'd need to know the limit or the adjuster will run out of thread but a washer might be all needed to add if it comes o that.
If ya talking about a different problem then ignore my rant. Cheers.

Yamaha is better than EBC in my experience.

Yes, the brake cable is adjusted correctly, although I can still stretch the cable all the way to the handlebars. Ordered a new cable from KDI (even though the last one is from there as well) so we will see if that improves anything. Definitely no where close to locking up the front wheel no matter how hard I try, I can lock up the rear by standing on the pedal. Good to know that about Yamaha vs EBC, still trying to decide between semi vs full sintered though (organic is still a possibility if it stops well).


RT, that does not surprise me that they had issues from factory given how loose this steering is. I would definitely like to tighten it up as I was getting headshake previously, but don't want to bind the bearings either. I am not quite sure I understand the procedure you are describing though, shouldn't the brake not effect the steering stem tightness?

Thanks for the advice!

RT325 was talking about play in the steering bearings/races due to the upper inner race not always being a tight fit to the stem.

What you seem to be upset about is that the steering still turns free when the bearings are tightened down to the point of no play?  That's the way it should be.

Two things... One, headshake is a geometry/loading issue...  stiffness in the steering doesn't fix it, it just dampens the problem.  (Overtightening the bearings can lead to dangerous handling.)  Two, just install a factory steering damper if you think you need one.    Attaches with one screw.  Problem solved.

Do you mean that the brake lever can be pulled all the way back to the handlebars? Not sure that this should happen!

You could try moving the brake cam lever a notch or two away (ie clockwise) on the cam. 

yeah all i meant was-you see in manuals pics showing testing forward & back play of the bearing with bike sitting on a box & grabbing the wheel to pull-push etc to see if set too loose. But i find it easier & effective to just apply the front brake & push forward 'or try to'--& any loose adjustment will be immediately obvious at the top cone adjuster. Overtight adjusting--as in way overtight--with worn bearings which end up with dimples from the ball bearings over years of use & the balls will try to find the center dimple, so you'll fight it down the road trying to balance. I have--with nice new bearings in motocross run them tight to give a false steering damper feeling. With taper roller bearings you'd get away with it easier which i used to do on my "86 KX125". Anyway, that's just 'me'. First DT1 had an adjustable friction damper & so does my R5 twin frame i run a DT1 type motor in. Quite like them too, the old steering damper system.

If the new cable doesn't fix the brake issue then I will try moving the cam around and all that, maybe even replacing the lever arm. There is a point in which the cable wants to stop but it isn't that hard to pull right through it to the bar, yet it doesn't brake harder at all. I don't think the brake arm moves past that point, would have to check though. Feels like cable stretch to me.

The previous steering was so loose that when on a stand even if the bars were straight to the eye they would just fall over to one side and bounce off, way too loose in my experience. Didn't feel any front/back play though. Most of what I know of messing with headstocks comes from motocross though so that probably explains why I am trying to set them like that, the test that I knew was either until they don't bounce off the steering stops when dropped or until they don't fall on their own until about halfway to the steering stops, depending on your preference. Those were tapered roller bearings and machines that got new bearings every year though so not sure if the procedure for these bikes is supposed to be different. The races are clean with no notching or dimples.

I had no idea these bikes had a steering damper! Cool stuff for a bike so simple. Unfortunately, mine doesn't have one and NOS are $$$, on Ebay atleast. Will look into adding it later if the headshake isn't fixed by bearing adjustment, they look simple enough that used would probably be fine as well.

I've seen this on a CT1 more than once.  Brake shoes, cable, and even cable routing seem to have an effect.