Touring on drum brakes

I bought this Ernie Clements tourer a while back to use on a fairly long trip this summer in Europe.
I know the advantages of drum brakes; no blowouts from overheating, very low maintenance, weatherproof etc but is it worth taking the risk of having a problem with them when I'm nowhere near a bike shop that may have the necessary parts to fix it.

Does anyone have experience with drum brakes or knows how to maintain them?

Should I be gone with them and fit rim brakes instead?

Any help would be gratefully received,

Cheers,

Angus

If those are Sturmey Archer you are very unlikely to have a problem. The design is sound and the quality is high. The engineering is simple - same as found on older cars and motorbikes. you could pack spares, but I doubt you'll need them.

PDF of dismantling the hubs can be found here:
http://www.sturmey-archer.com/pdfs/XFD_XRD_Parts_List.pdf

I suppose you could even pack a spare front rim brake, crosstop lever & short length of cable in your luggage. If you had problems you would then have a backup.

Oh, and nice bike. Falcon San Remo?

oh man, that bike is absolutely lovely.

As for drum brakes, they are robust as hell! i worked on an eight freight for a year and we had no problems, in constant use. i would maybe have a god at taking them apart before you go to check wear of pads, if your mechanically inclined. if not dont worry, i would imagine they will be ok.

good luck

Sounds excellent. I'd agree with both, give them a going over if you can before hand amd if you're really paranoid carry the spare front brake setup as BQ suggests.

Yep both the hubs are Sturmey Archer. That pdf makes them look bloody simple so no probs if they do play up at all, plus I think I'm gonna pack some normal rim brakes just in case.

Not sure if it's the san remo or not, when I bought it it was advertised as an Ernie Clement signature model? It may well be a san remo because it's really light and has wrap around seat stays.

Thanks a lot for the help

Coorrrr.

Yep, pack a caliper or even two. One front might do, with some spacer to make it work on the rear?

It was you that posted this on the ebay finds thread, cheers Skully.
The good news I got when I bought it was that it was he'd measured it wrong and it's actually a 22" which is perfect.

Baragin! Ernie Clements Falcon 21" touring bike ready to go cheap as blummin chips £225 ono on ctc ad

[URL="http://www.k-selected.com/forsale/falcon_ecsig.html"][/URL]

<<< Memory like a sieve, but an eye for a tourer!

EDIT: glad you didnt say 23" ... I would be gutted now. Obviously too small for me from the photo.

hahahaa

Looks like such a nice bike.

Cheers, the photos don't do it justice, much more shiny in real life

Probably is. It looks like one with the wraparound stays. Should be 531DB tubing all round and nice and light as a result. All Falcons of that era had Ernie's signature on, as he owned the company and designed all the bikes.

My only reason for doubting that it is a San Remo is because I read that on Ernie Clements tourers the wraparound stays were rounded, like mine, and the San Remos wraparound stays flatten off towards the top.
Doesn't seem to be too much info on Ernie Clements tourers which is annoying.

as above, drum brakes are bomb-proof, get 'em checked/adjusted by your LBS before you go but otherwise they'll be fine. Besides if you're in Europe you'll be covered, hub/drum brakes are the norm on the majority of town/utility bikes throughout the continent, it'd actually be a better place to get into the trouble than the UK!

Besides if you're in Europe you'll be covered, hub/drum brakes are the norm on the majority of town/utility bikes throughout the continent, it'd actually be a better place to get into the trouble than the UK!

Thats crazy, never knew that yorkiefix cheers

My only reason for doubting that it is a San Remo is because I read that on Ernie Clements tourers the wraparound stays were rounded, like mine, and the San Remos wraparound stays flatten off towards the top.
Doesn't seem to be too much info on Ernie Clements tourers which is annoying.

It depends on the year I think.
This is my dad's Falcon San Remo Mk2 Equipe. He bought it new in 1964 and only sold it a couple of years ago. It was my main bike through the 1990s. As you can see it has round wraparound stays. I have seen later ones with flattened wraparounds, and no wraparounds at all. It does have a different fork crown to yours, but the frame looks very similar.

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You've convinced me bluequinn, they look almost identical.

Just seen this lovely photo of an old Falcon San Remo Equipe. I bought one of these back in 1963 and raced on it for some five years before buying a hand made Swinnerton. What a great machine and really wished I had kept it. This is the genuine bike, finished in Neptune blue with chrome rear ends , but mine was specified with all chrome front forks.
Gearing was Campag gran sport front and rear with the then new cotter less chain set. My brakes were mafac centre pulls whilst rims were mavic shod with clement tubs.