Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I got a brake stay from a guy who bought it brand new from Red Racer, he never installed it. It has a bend in it about half way down the stay?? He says it came that way, so i am wondering why it would be bent. And also, it came with two small springs, almost like brake shoe springs. What are those for?? thanks!

The attachment points on the rear brake baking plate and the frame are not in the same plane. The heim joints would take care of this with a straight arm, but the bend gives a bit more clearance around the chain guide and at the frame bracket. BTW, there are two lengths of arm because the 1980 swing arm was about 1" longer than the 1978/1979 one. After-market arms are generally the same length as the 1980 arm even for the earlier bikes. You should check that your torque adjustment is not rotating the rear brake backing plate forward/anti-clockwise. If so, make the arm longer by un-screwing the heim joints. Use Loctite on the nuts - they will come loose.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

my bike is a 1980 so i should be good, is the bend there to use the outside of the peg bolt instead of the normal location? seems like i have seen some this way. Which would give even more room for the chain roller.

John Astleford (http://www.jastco.com) sent me pictures of a torque arm that attaches to the foot-peg mount rather than the frame, making space for relocation of the front chain roller. If you want to use a roller of stock size with an aftermarket arm then it will have to be moved down. I simply made a static roller out of teflon washers that is small enough to not jam the chain against the underside of the swing arm. I confess I still have a contraption sent to me by the good Mr Pullen that will move the stock roller lower. The Red Racer torque arm uses the standard bracket on the frame.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

more dumb brake stay questions The OD of the hole in the rod end on the "red racer" brake stay is to small to fit over the stud that threads into the backing plate? Is this stud different diameters for different years of 78-80 CR250's ?? The frame end fits fine, and i cant bore out a rod end, and i would rather not turn down the stud in case i ever have to go back to the stock torque arm. Thanks again for any advice.

I may have avoided your problem without being aware of it. The post in my brake backing plate came unscrewed as it was seized to the OEM nut. I replaced it with a new bolt that obviously fit the threaded hole in the backing plate and the ID of the heim joint...

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

brilliant, easy enough fix. thanks for the help.