ok first if the bike is new(ish) 84and up it has disc brakes front and rear and the reason for it taking soooo long was cost incurred rto the the mfg, now for the brakes this is going to sound weird but the rear brake is always more powerful than the front ie larger size rotor or drum or more psi applied to the braking surface having said that the front brake is always more effective for its size. that is why the front dives when you pull too much front brake, but the back never does, and they get hotter as they are used which is why the mfg started putting them on the front to begin with (disc cool quicker and have less fade- lose of brake action due to heat build up)
On a motorbike the front brake provides about 70% of the bikes stopping power. Disc brakes are better suited to this job as they are a better brake because they dont need adjustment as much, they are self cleaning and dissipate heat much better. They last longer and are far more maintenance free than drum brakes. The back wheel provides 30% of the stopping power when you brake so even a disc brake on the back wouldnt improve its braking ability beyond that 30%.
No offense dead 7, but you've missed a couple of things. First of all, rear brakes or drum brakes are not necessarily more powerful than a front brake or disc brake. It all comes down to the friction area between the pad or shoe and the drum or disc and the pressure applied to the shoe or pad, either mechanical (rod and lever) or hydraulic (pressurized fluid). Any brake that will lock up the wheel, front or rear, is powerful enough and it doesn't matter whether it's disc or drum. Often times, disc brakes are easier to modulate and resistance applied is more or less linear. In the not so good old days, some times drum brakes had a bad habit of doing a little braking and then suddenly doing too much, producing a eye widening experience. Front end dive has little if anything to do with how powerful the front or rear brake is. When you apply the brake at either end, weight is shifted forward, compressing the front springs. The spring resistance, thickness of shock oil, anti dive features and shaft or chain drive all have an effect on the amount of dive. The biggest difference between drums and discs is fade resistance. When you apply the brakes, friction heats everything up. With a drum, the heat makes the drum bigger in diameter and if hot enough, it's so large that the shoes can't make firm contact with surface. The design differences in discs prevents this from happening. However, discs can fade when enough heat causes the brake fluid to boil, producing a compressable gas. Riding the brakes lightly for long periods of time will cause brake fade more than will short periods of hard application. The main reason drum brakes are still used is cost. They are cheaper to manufacture than are disc systems. THAT'S the main reason drums are still used.
Apart from a few very cheap small capacity scooters and mopeds i thought all new bikes didn't use Drums anymore! I stand corrected Shaun ! PS i wont be buying a Honda Shadow then ! LOL
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