The RE drum is mechanical /not/ hydraulic, by rod from the pedal, but properly set up it is very efficient, has a very solid feeling and requires no undue pressure; light toe pressure, not stand on it.
There is a public and indeed legislative misconception that drum brakes are less powerful than discs. Partly because they require more leverage to operate; the RE has a very long brake pedal to provide more than adequate leverage. How much braking can be done is down the area of the friction material and a drum shoe has a much greater area than a disc pad.
But it isn’t rocket science to get the rear drum of the RE working properly. And when it is set up to centre its shoes, as designed, it works very well indeed. As supplied the thing was very squidgy.
I do not understand the RE factory’s persistent miss-assembly because although you have to dismantle the rear brake to get at it, this thing is really so simple to set up correctly. Hydraulic drum brakes are(were) found on cars, on a typical 1LS rear drum the expanding cylinder is allowed to slide to centre the shoes. The RE drum brake has the cam/bush held onto the backplate by a pair of screws and lock nuts so that it too can slide to centre the shoes. It must not be too loose but it is not supposed to be painted onto the backplate.?
Jeff Slade