For mechanics/trike owners

[Chrisj CMA]

This question comes from a posting on the general board about a trike that had the rear master cylinder go out.  It got me thinking (thats a scary thing sometimes)  anyway......has there been any thought/discussion about replacing the stock teeny weenie master cylinder for something bigger and stronger since the trike kit adds gallons of brake fluid and doubles the amount of braking (two wheels)?  Im just not sure anyone in the business of designing brake systems would have selected that particular part for the brakes as they are on a trike..........any thoughts?

[junior]

it aint the size of the res. its the length of the stroke of the master and the displacement of fluid. i am sure that the trike kit makers has taken all this into account for liabilitity reasons.

[roboto65]

I still have the train of thought that the front brakes are supposed to do most of the work thats where the weight transfers in a stop regardless of motorcycle, trike or car the front brakes do most of the work..

[shortleg]

  All the trike kits I have seen and
worked on retaine the stock one.
  All that is changed is a valve if I
remember right. Like was said before
it,s not the size that counts.
          Shortleg[Dave]

[scoot]

I still have the train of thought that the front brakes are supposed to do most of the work thats where the weight transfers in a stop regardless of motorcycle, trike or car the front brakes do most of the work..

I agree, I seem to recall that your front brakes actually do somewhere around 80% of your stopping. That is why for so many years cars only had disc brakes on the front of them, and weak drum set up on the back. The thought was that you wouldn't be trying to stop the mass as hard in reverse as going forward. You also don't change your back brakes as often as you do your front brakes in a car.

[R J]

You convert a bike into a Trike, the front brake is retained, but it is not as useful as original.

My front brake on the Chevy, was worthless as tits on a Boar.

So, I've run with rear only since 1979.   YES, I do have rear disk and they will not lock up, they work better than ABS.    Boyd Cottington and his boys helped design the system, and the system was built in Florida, expensive, but well worth it.

Yeah, I know Joe, ya can't hide $$$$$$.

[3W-lonerider]

the rear resivour and master cylinder on a trike is more than adequate to stop a trike. with disk or drum brakes. i very rarely use my front brake. even though the front brake works alot better than the rear. if i have to stop real quick then yes i will use the front. trike manufacturers will sometimes put a 5 to 7 psi check valve in the rear brake system to keep alittle pressure in the wheel cylinders so you don't have to push the pedal as far to get the brakes to apply. mine does not have that check valve. but my pedal will move about an inch before the shoes hit the drums then another inch to apply real pressure. i could adjust them tighter making less movement of the pedal but the thing is if the shoes drag on the drums then you end up boiling the brake fluid and locking the brakes up because of the pressure in the system. i just wish i could find me a small vacuum cannister like the power brakes in a car to assist with the rear brakes..that would be great.

[larryh0841]

I have a Roadsmith trike conversion on an Interstate and have retained the stock rear master cylinder.  They have a replacement available now, but when I asked their tech support person if I should convert mine he said if mine worked I did not need to convert to the new master cylinder.   It was made available if customers felt they needed it.  He said that he had never personally experienced a Roadsmith conversion that required the new master cylinder.  He said that I should be able to lock the rear wheels up if I wanted to and I can......did it once for test purposes only.   I have footboards on the trike and did install a Kury brake pedal cover to raise it up a little above the footboard.  Although I almost never use the rear brake on my regular Interstate I do use the rear brakes most of the time on the trike.  The trike has rear discs and they are a lot cheaper to replace than the Valkyrie front disc setup.