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Hi I bought a James Captain today, 197cc, 1955, things will be better when I stop trying to change gear with the rear brake lever I’m sure!

Welcome in Mark... definitely not a common machine you have there. Piccies would be nice

Welcome in

Thanks for the replies, here it is

Looks good. What's the plan for it? Ride and enjoy i'd say

… looks to be in sound condition,, i'd agree, ride and enjoy!

Thanks for the replies, I’ve bought it for my 84 year old Father, he had one in the 50’s, I doubt he’ll ride it apart from in his garden but I know he’ll enjoy tinkering with it, I don’t think it’s GPO, it’s actually maroon in colour but looks red in the photo, not sure if they used them they mainly had bantams I think?, back on the day they were mainly used as workman’s commuter bikes, I’ve got it insured so I’ll take it out occasionally, brakes are scary though even with it’s limited 60mph performance!, I’d describe them as “early anti lock”, I.e they’re so puny the just don’t lock!.

Bad brakes is pretty much par for the course I find...my C90 has brakes no better than a push bike, even though they have new shoes...and my CB750 front disc isn’t much better despite also having brand new pads.... my RD250 is little better. I find they are ok for planned braking but scary for unplanned The only classic I have with decent brakes is the 92 NSR, but you would expect those to be good I suppose. I guess all you can do is change the cables, fit new shoes and ensure the drums are clean and true...

Yes I didn’t expect them to be up to much:), I’ve done the twin disc conversion on my CB750 SOHC and the difference is amazing , it’s almost as good as a modern set up, 80% as good I’d say, I had a 1972 Suzuki Hustler up until a couple of years ago, that had a twin leading drum , it was rubbish, the MOT tester said it was the best he’d ever tested, some of the others must be pretty bad then!.

I remember modifying my CB550 to a twin disk setup back in the early 80’s... i also remember being pretty disappointed at the result although its so long ago that I cant remember if I used the original master cyl or an alternative....i think i must have but can’t remember.. One of my fellow ACRD riding pals once told me that a good mod for the crap wooden RD250F front disc brakes was to use an alternative modern master cyl rather than changing the caliper and spoiling the looks...so i also tried it on my 250F, but again i found the mod to be virtually ineffective... My CB750K4 front brake disk looks almost brand new with virtually no wear marks, however its very poor... I was toying with the idea of roughing up the disk surface with some very fine wet n dry to see if I can improve the performance but I’m a bit reluctant.. maybe I will buy another pair of new pads from an alternative source first, just to rule them out.... I dont seem to have much success in improving the brakes on my classics....

A lot of people did the twin disk mod back in the day Rob and failed to change the master cylinder, resulting in an equally rubbish brake, it’s crucial that the master cylinder is changed for one that is compatible with twin discs, many use the GL1100 master cylinder, I used a Honda Fireblade item, I have never changed a master cylinder on a single disc set up but have seen a lot of posts where people have had poor results, I have seen improved braking on several modern bikes I’ve recently owned by fitting EBC HH pads, in the case of my Ducati Scrambler there was a marked improvement, this I am told is because the OE fitment pads are organic, not sure if they were organic but they had minimal sintering, the HH pads looked like blocks of solid copper in comparison!.

Yes i think that may be the way to go...i have used hh pads on more modern stuff and they are good but they wear the disks more quickly..... but if they stop better its a price worth paying. my new pads on the 750 are organic, from ds.... maybe i can find some sintered alternatives, I didn’t think they would be available for older stuff..

sounds like good advice wolfy