Honda Nighthawk = Front Drum Brakes - Any opinions?

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High_Side
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#11 Unread post by High_Side »

I've never had a drum brake that was as good as my worst disk brake. They really have no place on a modern motorcycle. They will get you stopped with a wooden feel, but for me it would be enough to look at another bike.

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Re: Honda Nighthawk = Front Drum Brakes - Any opinions?

#12 Unread post by paul246 »

gregggyf wrote:Good Morning,

I was thinking of purchasing a Nighthawk when a fellow forum member informed me that the Nighthawk has front drum brakes as opposed to disc brakes. Considering how so many motorcycles are equipped with front disc brakes:

A) Is it a considerable "problem" having drums for front brakes?

B) If it is such a poor safety decision to have front drums, then why would Honda willfully equip a motorcycle with an inferior design?

Thank you very much

Greg
Getting back to what the original poster asked. Rather then make comparisons of disc versus drum, consider what bike he is talking about. Its really not an issue, the drum brakes are more than adequate for that light bike and are not a safety issue.

Why Honda choses to use them rather than a disc as with the Rebel is another question.
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Re: Honda Nighthawk = Front Drum Brakes - Any opinions?

#13 Unread post by andyfrobig »

The Triumph Bonneville did NOT have front drums to the end. The '73 Bonneville introduced a front disc, and in '75, when the Bonneville, Tiger and Trident went to left-foot shift/right foot brake, to comply with US standardization, it was cheaper and easier to replace the rear drum with a disc rather than to either redesign the rear hub (of course they did that anyway, but it was a plain spool with no brake drum) or design a crank linkage to go from a right pedal to a left brake plate. This rear disc especially caused problems, first because Triumph didn't get the wheel lacing right on the new hub at first, and second because the rear master cylinder, which was just adapted from the front master cylinder, was mounted close to the road, which made it both very difficult to service and also very vulnerable to dirt and water from the pavement. The '79 T140D Bonneville Special introduced a higher mount for the rear caliper, which had also suffered from its proximity to the road. Every 750 Bonneville and Tiger made in Meriden from 1973 until the factory closed in 1983 had at least a front disc brake; most had front and rear. All the Les Harris "Devon Bonnevilles" made between 1983 and 1988 also had front and rear discs, and of course the Hinckley Bonnevilles do too. The X75 Hurricane triple had the same front drum as the '72-73 650s, because Craig Vetter designed the bike around those bikes' front end.
To me, it doesn't make economic sense that the Rebel and the Nighthawk don't have the same brake. They were both pretty inexpensive, so you'd think that, to keep the profit margin high, more parts sharing would make more sense. But then, I have a VT500 Ascot, and it shares almost no parts with the FT500 Ascot. I also don't agree that it's such a simple answer to switch from the Nighthawk to the Rebel in order to get a disc brake. The riding position and whole attitude of the two bikes are aimed at two different kinds of riders.

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Re: Honda Nighthawk = Front Drum Brakes - Any opinions?

#14 Unread post by Johnj »

Hello Andy and welcome to the forum. I don't know if you noticed that you were responding to a post that's nine years old. Anyway I sure would like to see a picture of your VT500. See you around.
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Re: Honda Nighthawk = Front Drum Brakes - Any opinions?

#15 Unread post by andyfrobig »

I'm way late to the party, but the thing that always puzzled me about the Nighthawk and its front drum is that the Rebel had the same engine, but a front disc. I've had more bikes with front drums than front discs. My front disc bikes were what I'd call first-generation discs: Honda CB500T, Triumph 750 Bonneville, BMW R90/6, Honda VT500 Ascot. (My current Genuine G400C has a pretty archaic disc too.) Most modern riders might even wonder if there's a point putting brakes on a bike if they're like those particular brakes. Twin leading shoe drums I've had--Honda CB160, BSA B50, Bultaco Metralla, Yamaha R5 (350) and CS5 (200) were adequate for the size and power of the bikes that had them; the CS5 stopped especially well. The less said about single leading shoes on the front, the better. But why did the Rebel, which I'd expect to get ridden a little easier than the Nighthawk, have an objectively better front brake? Why did Honda spend the extra money to have completely different braking systems on such closely related bikes?

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