The only thing about gen1 brakes I ever found iffy was that the rear drums could wear to the point that the adjusters had no more stroke, and just slowly fade away to nothing slowing you down back there. You can get enough adjustment on the ebrake cables to take up more slop than the shoe adjusters, and if you don't take off the drum (sometimes a pita), you never notice and just gripe about cruddy gen1 brakes...

Not responsible for advice not taken...