The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Adrian on October 08, 2025, 12:55:50 AM
-
The original post below is left unmodified.
.
I have just spoken with an R65 owner in Germany - the photo he shared shows the smaller shoe at the top - so that's one question answered.
.
He does say that there are 2 sizes of shoe - I can't check this until tomorrow as my bike is parked up at a friend's house.
.
Would someone confirm this for me thanks. It seems unlikely that the drum is warped as much as the original shoe wear would suggest. The wear on the shoe does seem to suggest that these shoes are incorrect. Does this wear show the shoe to be too small or too large?
.
Thanks
.
.
.
Hi there once again Brains Trust
.
Attached are 2 photos of the 2000 kilometre old brake shoes. I have 2 questions.
.
I initially installed them with the smaller shoe at the top of the setup. As you can see from the wear on the shoe - it seems that only about half of the shoes are making contact with the drum.
.
Did I initially set up the shoes correctly - or should the larger shoe be at the top?
.
If I had them correctly mounted why is the wear as it is. Or is this wear because they were incorrectly mounted.
.
The braking efficiency of the rear brake was barely adequate since they were installed.
.
I'm hoping someone has an answer.
.
Thanks - Adrian
.
.
-
There are two different brake shoes for R65's the LS has the composite wheels and I think the brake drum is a larger diameter than the standard R65 with snowflake wheels .
The two sizes are not interchangeable, along with the springs .
Also the brake shoes pivot on the lower drum, so they only make contact on the upper surface of the shoes .
Rear braking is not the best, but I guess it's better than no braking action .
You can adjust the nut on the brake rod and see if it makes any difference .
-
Those are the LS pads. I got them by mistake for my 83 non-LS bike and had to send them back.
Yes, the shorter one has to go to the top. The cam is assymetric and it can't work properly the other way up.
Mine (the right ones this time) aren't a great fit in the drum, although there was a small ridge (~1mm) on the extreme outside. I ground it off and smoothed it like I would with an old car - force of habit. They usually stop the drum coming off if you have self-adjusters. So my drum is partially worn.
When the back wheel is off again, I'll run a rasp over the worn 'high' points to see if I can get more contact. A small SLS drum is never going to be 'impressive'. My friend tells me the police reduced the width of the rear drum on the 100s as officers found it too sharp??? I suppose size 12 Patrol boots probably meant a 'stomp' not a 'tiptoe feelie' ;D
P.S. These drums are 200mm. 250 on LS. The front drum on my old XT500 was 150mm. Puney! It was swapped for a bigger twin leading shoe from a Triumph, with some spokes missed-out. I paid a guy in Nottingham to do that, as I can only just tweak a bicycle wheel straight. He could also straighten fork tubes with a pair of V blocks and a sledgie. I mean, roll on glass to check straight.
-
Hi again - I have now compared the new shoes to the old. They are identical in size.
.
I have checked the part number and it matches the shoes for my bike.
.
Photos are attached.
.
So I'm at a complete loss as to why the old shoes have worn the way they have.
.
Adrian
-
You'll have to zoom in.
https://www.taro.com.au/content/brake-lining-wear-pattern-analysis (https://www.taro.com.au/content/brake-lining-wear-pattern-analysis)
With the better photos you posted, same pattern as mine. Probably like many others now.
The leading edge can't bite, so poor braking. Getting a new wheel is out, having a liner made is possible, but a very large lathe is needed to true it up, once it's been made, heat shrunk in..... Mine has got better with wear, and I'll help that along in the right spot with a rasp, next time the wheel is off.
if there is some meat left and the surface is OK:
https://youtu.be/gVmr0IPN9UI (https://youtu.be/gVmr0IPN9UI)
https://youtu.be/0n02-GU_VYs?si=qEqy6zSJVnlE0moT (https://youtu.be/0n02-GU_VYs?si=qEqy6zSJVnlE0moT)