Help with brakes

Keep that brake on the rear and see if you can put a disc brake on the front. Here is a link to a thread on how to do it.
http://motorbicycling.com/f3/disc-brake-conversion-18389.html

I use these on the front of my bike and they stop me at 33mph.
ODYSSEY 1999 BRAKE/LEVER SET FOR BMX at JensonUSA.com

Try this. Its whats been recommended to me when I was asking about front brakes. Its supposed to be awesome. 26" FRONT WHEEL WITH DRUM BRAKE HUB: Husky Bicycles

Pat

Any of the brakes that use shoes at the rims are subject to wearing out fast and fading. I use disk brakes myself they truly have me spoiled. Having used every design of brake at the rim in my day. They can in no way shape or form ever compare to disk brakes. Have not tried drum brakes, but I can speak for disk brakes they are awesome!

Ya I should have mentioned those side pull designs are a joke. If you want a good rim brake go with v brake designs like this one they seem to be the cheapest. They will never compare to disk though. One of my economy builds uses disk in front a this v brake in he rear its not bad. You can make these work front and rear I have in the past Good luck!

mnerren said:

I like the v-brakes, I have them on my Trek. Unfortunately I would have to do some welding to the frame to put the mounting on for the brakes. I went to the bike shop at lunch and showed the bike technician my brakes and he indicated that he was not suprised that they didn't work well on a beach cruiser wheel. He sold me a set of Odyssey 1999 BMX brakes to try, he said if they don't work I can bring them back and he can hook me up with disc brakes, but it would be costly. Maybe these BMX brakes will work. They are specifically made for a wide wheel, they are stronger calipers. I will update you on how these work. I believe Cabin Fever indicated that he is using these and they work great.

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I have bmx brakes on the front of my cruiser as well. They do work great.

Pat

These bmx brakes properly adjusted work great on the front, even the pads are good.
They don't rub on my wheel, no squeeling or screeching and they snap back great.
They stop my bike at 33mph on a dime.
They are still pretty new, but there holding up great.

Karl

BTW if you want to use linear pull brakes instead, no need to weld cause they make a adapter for $11:
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BR407G12-Tektro+U1+Bmx+U+Brake+Adapter+Plate+Blk.aspx

I've used the SunLite caliper on the front of a Cranbrook. Pretty much useless. The Sturmey Drum on the front of my Felt. Somewhat better. BUT, for the money, a decent set of v-brakes stops MUCH quicker. I'm using Shimano and Tektro on MTB shock forks. Perhaps the discs ARE better especially when wet but are pricey. No personal experience w/ them.

An interesting note about the Sturmey drums...

When I first got mine I was concerned that they didn't seem to be stopping me as well as expected, in fact I couldn't get them to lock up & skid. Wondering if perhaps they were faulty or grease fouled I pulled 'em apart to see, when I found nothing wrong I had a chat with a bike tech friend whom has installed quite a few sets, even using them himself.

To make a long convo short, he said, "nope - that's just the way they are." but that didn't really satisfy me - although it relived my concerns about my bike's excessive weight (heavy vintage ride) and the effectiveness of the dual-pull brake lever. So I broke out my other MB, V brakes & equipped with "performance" pads that are grabby as all heck and did a few "panic stop" runs, then I did the same w/the dual drum equipped vintage ride...

Oddly enough - the effective stopping distance was not too different, it took the vintage bike only a tiny bit longer to stop which might be attributed to the huge weight difference, as the vintage wheelset alone weighs about the same as the entire other bike (minus the engine kit ofc) While the V brakes would GRAB and go into a skid in a heartbeat - that really doesn't help stop in a shorter distance.

I really haven't much of a choice with the vintage ride, with the rims it's got it's drum or disk - and disks would... well... they'd jus' look odd lol, however once I did the stopping distance test I was much reassured about the drum's effectiveness and I'm really pleased with the lack of pad wear and how well they work in wet conditions.

I think disks are prolly the best brakes available, but I've decided drums are a pretty close second... I'm going to do my best to avoid V brakes with future builds - while the pad wear can be HUGELY reduced with just a set of premium pads, I despise how poorly they work in the rain and even the "simple" matter of having them correctly adjusted so one pad doesn't drag on the side of the rim drives me a lil nuts. It's easy 'nuff to be sure - but it's a constant maintenance I'm happy to not need to do anymore.

*shrug* It's yer call

mnerren said:

Has anyone been able to get these BMX brakes to fit on the back? The calipers are not long enough on mine, the pads when adjusted all the way down still rub on the tire. Any ideas?

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I got mine at the local bike store they had 3 different length calipers (short, med and long). The medium fit on the front wheel of my cruiser. I just use the coaster on the rear but check with your bike store about the next size longer caliper. You probably need the long ones.

Pat

Hi mnerron, I've been buying NOS spring type mtb shock forks off of Ebay and a couple of used freebie bikes. You just gotta know your steerer tube diameter ,length and threaded/threadless type.

I've been looking far and wide for brakes that will fit my schwinn typhoon. I finally came across this site Yellow Jersey LTD. and they were extremely helpful in pairing me with some brakes that had a long enough reach. 80-100 mm to be specific. but they have a myriad of other sizes too. Here's the link Standard Singe Pivot Caliper Brakes from Yellow Jersey

here is the setup I ended up with, but first an explanation. I have a cranbrook from wallyworld. it comes with a coaster brake, but I added a rear hand brake shortly after I got the bike. I ended up with a bit of a dilemma when I shortened my drive chain in order to not require the use of a tensioner. the problem was, my drive chain ended up shorter than my pedal chain, so when centering the wheel, I couldn't make the pedal chain tight enough to make the coaster brake effective. so, I ended up using the tension pulley to add tension to the pedal chain. I had removed my pedal chainguard a while ago, so I mounted the tension pulley where the tab is that the chainguard normally bolts to. the tab holds the tension pulley in place, keeping it from sliding around and into my spokes. the coaster brake works a lot better with more tension, making the combination of the coaster brake and the hand brake very effective at stopping even in the rain.