bailing wire and balls, another 1964 Yamaha story

The term "held together with bailing wire and spit" is a term used for bikes held together with anything at hand, unless the item that needed to be attached could be considered superfluous and left to run as is.

My 80cc Yamaha used a rod brake link

Now, as with the shifter part, acquiring new parts for the bike just wasn't done, if you have no money, you go without.

The brake system on a '64 Yamaha was simple, the rear brake shoe drum had a rod attached to the frame to keep the drum from rotating, and a rod running from the brake pedal to the drum. Push the pedal, pulls the rod, which pulls the link, which rotates a cam which spreads the shoes, applying pressure to the drum. Simple.

Now, on the Brake link, where the rod attaches: The link was a fork with two round holes in it.

the rod coming back from the pedal was threaded, it had a spring, a sleeve (link pin), a bevel nut and a bevel lock. The sleeve or link pin went through the two holes in the brake link, the rod went through the sleeve, the lock nut and bevel tighten to adjust the brake, and the spring kept the tension so the nut wouldn't back off the rod.

It was really a simple system, and worked really well when put together correctly. Unfortunately, my bike was missing the link pin.

So what we did was drop the brake rod through the link fork, ignored the two sleeve holes, and just tightened the spring and nut against the brake fork. This actually worked well, as long as you only needed to apply the brake once. So we would get on the bike, lug start off in 2nd gear, scream around the property then, stop for the next person to ride. Because the brake rod wasn't actually attached to the brake link, it would apply correctly once the pedal was depressed, but when the pedal was released the entire rod would pop out of the fork and spend the rest of the ride lying across the brake drum at the axle mount. After the rod popped out you had one way to stop the bike, the grab the clutch, drop your feet and dig in till the bike stopped. Needless to say, because the track we used had turns and climbs and a jump, there was more than one braking point required for a novice to the bike. The rest of us relied on throttle control, big balls, Strong legs, and worn out boots.

Remember, no shifter, no neutral. When the bike stopped, you held the clutch, stepped off the bike with smoking heels, and continued to hold teh clutch for the next rider to climb on and take over.