My '68 Westy had non-power assisted drum brakes all around-what a cruel joke
that was!  One step above dragging your heels on the ground.  I converted it
into a high top and it was way beyond its design limits when loaded,
probably even when not.  I was young and stupid.  We had to come down a long
hill to get to our house, and I could turn off about 2/3 of the way down for
the shortest route, but my wife could never stop the thing on the hill and
had to run all the way down until it leveled off to stop and turn.   We were
both young and stupid.

My worst experience was on the Grapevine
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapevine,_California) coming north fully
loaded.  For those who don't know this route, it's a really long 6% grade.
Seems like miles.  By the time I realized I was having brake fade, I was
going too fast to downshift (trucker's nightmare), and my speed was
increasing.  To safely negotiate this descent I would have had to slow down
and shift into third at the top and go down at 40 to 45 mph, but I learned
that too late. Two things saved us:  It was long and straight with light
traffic, and the poor aerodynamics limited my speed to about 85.  Ever seen
those gravel emergency truck turnouts?  I was considering using one but was
able to ride it out.  Had to change my pants afterward though.

Sold that rig shortly after that trip.

BTW, brake fade is due to vaporization of the pad material from overheating,
which creates a layer of vaporized bonding material between the pad and the
drum/rotor.  This vapor layer is a real good lubricant!  I had a firm pedal
(can't get hot enough to boil the fluid in a drum brake cylinder), but it
doesn't matter how hard you stand on it.  Slots and holes in rotors help
cool the pads and dissipate this build-up of gasses.

Stuart

'85 Westy