For the supposedly more sporting bike of the two the S-8 front brake is a real joke . My theory is that BSA had a lot of 7 inch front brakes that they wanted to use up , which might have been OK in the 1940s but not in todays traffic .
The easiest decent front brake to fit is the 8 inch single sided BSA one as fitted to the early Gold Stars and A10s , unfortunately these are getting harder to find in good condition and consequently more expensive , but what is your life worth ??? .
This brake will fit straight in using the BSA wheel spindle which however is a bit short so that you have difficulty getting the tommy bar in . It is better to make up a couple of spacers as below to utilise the S-8 spindle which is the correct length and looks better with it's chrome head . The spacer which is fitted to the spindle is stainless so that screwing it through the fork leg does not destroy the finish .
The brake may be fitted in two different ways :--- the conventional way using the original anchor point on the brake plate and the brake arm pointing rearwards .
The better way is to use the cable fixing point as the anchor and have the brake arm pointing forwards , this puts more leverage on the trailing shoe thus producing more braking power and evening out the wear on the linings .
