Rear brake rod location

At about that time the lever was changed to place it above the spindle.  This is alleged to be to avoid some types of silencer.  But the lever sideways offset was also increased to make the rod avoid the bottom of the shock absorber, and that means the later one bends the back plate so the shoes don't match the drum as well under load and the brake is less effective.  So unless you regularly burn your fingers when you adjust your rear brake, I'd leave well alone.

Hi. I believe that only the 650SS had the brake rod going ‘uphill‘ from the foot pedal to the brake plate. The operating lever that attaches to the brake rod on the brake plate are also different for the two options.

My 1960 99 has a downward pointing brake rod (like your one has currently) and I know that‘s correct for my bike. I can’t see your one being any different considering only a couple of years apart.

Regards

Tony

... that my 1965 650SS has the 'uphill' brake rod. When I was rerfurbing it, I saw that most of the bikes I saw had 'downhill' brake rods and changed mine thinking it was wrong, but it didn't line up properly, so I returned it to uphill.

I recall the late John Hudson once standing beside a bike at a meeting discussing the brake rod line and he finished with one of his more regular comments..."I shall never understand why Woolwich did that"

...also has a mix of up and down hill, and no exhaust to contemplate on the left side?  I also  thought mine was assembled wrongly, but attempting the swap over showed that it would not work with the components fitted.

Cheers

Jon

hello answer both depends on the year and model  my Norton Manxman are up ward facing and so is my Model 88 of 1954 vintage and a repatriated -export bike and has a racing history to her,  in the USA                                                                yours  anna j 

One of my books (probably Bacon's 'Norton Twins Restoration') says one reason was because Americans liked bigger silencers.  The Manxman silencer does not taper as soon towards the rear as the usual Dommie ones, so it would be more likely to be inconveniently close to the brake adjuster - hence the earlier change for the Manxman.  Then, no doubt, they standardised over the range when they went to Plumstead.  My 1963 one faces down but PO might have changed it.  I'm not going to replace it, only to get a slightly inferior brake (allegedly).

The lever offset is greater on the upwards version so it twists the backplate more.  And the slot in the lever is a different angle so the upwards lever doesn't fit facing down.

Bacon has two photos described as 1962 '650SS'.  The one on the street has the upwards lever, and the one on the racetrack has the downwards lever.  Which seems entirely logical (although of course the track bike might not have been new...)