Don't like coaster brakes?

Sorry, Been away for a couple of days.
I too dropped the front coaster brake in favor of the highly touted Sturmey/Archer drum. As
mentioned earlier, to me, they are about equal in stopping power. So Bairdco, don't hold out for
the drum unless you have or can find one of known quality. You DEFINITELY need leverage to make
the coast-front work and as B discovered, its a drag brake at best. Heck my rear band brake is 2X
or more the stopping power of the front coaster OR S/A drum.
Why I went with the coaster to begin with was as SB mentioned. Cost/parts-on-hand. It was there and I had to try it. Also, as B mentioned its kind of a conversation piece. But the real reason for going hub-brake was I wanted painted wheels and the look of something retro. Do you know what rim brakes will do to painted wheels? I even tried white rim brake pads. Scuff-city. Disks or others would stop great but looked like crud.
B, I tried to tell you that you need leverage and a big hairy brake lever. Like Seinfeld used to say..."do the math". Even when you were only a 100lb. kid, that kind of force on the pedal was no match for a one-hand grip. Even tho my kids and wife sometimes refer to me as "the wrench" I have trouble stopping a 100lb. bike and 200lbs. of me with my finger grip!
So, the X-FD drum seemed to be the answer...WRONG! Non-differance!
Don't let me stand in your way tho, Try messing with this and see if you can make the difference. History is full of folks that didn't settle for the outcome of others!
Ah but who needs to stop anyway?!!! This is all about GOING! F R I G the stopping! LOL
Later, Enjoy
Oooops, slid right past my exit!

My ride of choice...the bike that gets ridden the most has a band brake on the rear and a v-brake plus a disc brake on the front fork. Both brakes on the front are actuated by a single lever. This set-up works awesome with the 4-stroke on an aluminum beach cruiser...stops FAST!

This was my answer to coaster brakes, after near death expiriences with cheap ones!

Been thinking about this, coaster brake forward. Could rig it to advantage by having the "throw" led around a small pulley. ("dead stop it 180 degrees around and above pulley) One would double the force of the pull but would take twice the cable length moving to pull the brake as much. Am thinking lever arm but so far, that would cancel out the mechanical advantage of the pulley. Snork, I need more coffee.

OK, 2 pulleys that draw to each other and pull a lever about midway with the attaching arm connection to the chain of the brake at the end to increase the throw and keep the mechanical advantage. Would add 4X the pulling force reduce cable travel 75%. But the arm would make up for the lost travel, at least some of it.

My head hurts

Dan said:

Been thinking about this, coaster brake forward. Could rig it to advantage by having the "throw" led around a small pulley. ("dead stop it 180 degrees around and above pulley) One would double the force of the pull but would take twice the cable length moving to pull the brake as much. Am thinking lever arm but so far, that would cancel out the mechanical advantage of the pulley. Snork, I need more coffee.

OK, 2 pulleys that draw to each other and pull a lever about midway with the attaching arm connection to the chain of the brake at the end to increase the throw and keep the mechanical advantage. Would add 4X the pulling force reduce cable travel 75%. But the arm would make up for the lost travel, at least some of it.

My head hurts

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Yes, I know how that is. When I've been thinking too hard about a problem sometimes a fresh approach with thinking totally out of the box, going your own way, being original, inventive, tapping in to your latent genius, the sleeping giant of brain power just waiting for someone to throw the switch to get those electrical juices flowing.... whew. Exhausting, isn't it? May I humbly suggest another approach. Think EXTREME REAR BRAKE. A simple heavy boat anchor hanging off the rear rack with a little lever to let it go as a kind of EMERGENCY BRAKE. Be the first kid on your block with one! And it would not have to be a fancy boat anchor. While less stylish, a couple cement blocks would suffice as a concrete solution to your problem. People will say, "Gee, why didn't I think of that? In winter conditions while riding through deep snow a simple hook anchor like that used by dog team mushers would be the cats meow.
SB

LOL SB.

(For anti-lock breaking, ball an' chain)

hey Dan, check the front wheel on this photo. see the shiny aluminum thing on the sprocket?

i gotta build a cable stop mount off the forks, and if it works, i'll let you guys know...

It looks kinda hard to steer though...

jbcruisin said:

I just bought a 36 T front sprocket on Ebay. I figured that way I take out links from the chain instead of adding them if I would have put a larger sprocket on the rear.

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A very acceptable way to battle the evil coaster brake leverage problem JB.
Let us know how easy the change out was for you.

SB,
The anchor idea smacks of an old Popeye cartoon! LOL

Dan,
Think - compound bow=multiplied leverage!

this might work: Problem Solvers

WayneC said:

Dan,
Think - compound bow=multiplied leverage!

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I gotta thunk on that. Really cool concept Wayne. Unrelated to this, working on a project where a plate has to slide with great force. Is the exact same puzzle and I did not think of that until just now. 2 funny

bairdco said:

hey Dan, check the front wheel on this photo. see the shiny aluminum thing on the sprocket?

i gotta build a cable stop mount off the forks, and if it works, i'll let you guys know...

Click to expand...

BairdMan,

I am near blind and even with magnifying pic am not seeing it. Can ya help a brother out? snork.

http://problemsolversbike.com/index.php/products/travel_agents Awesome sight, TY Baird

Your Problem Solver looks like it might work with a front coaster brake. Where would it mount?
SB

here's a better pic.

(man, i sure wrecked this thread, didn't i? sorry about turning it into the front coaster brake thread..)

Tim_B_172 said:

Neither do I! I was planning on using rear disc brakes on my new build, but it turns out that I don't have room. Then I discovered this:

V-Brake Plate by MISC

It's an adapter that allows you to put V-brakes on any bike frame. I can't find a really good picture of it installed, but as I understand it, you bolt it on through that hole at the top to the fender mount, and then use hose clamps through the slots to fork. I ordered one, will post pics once it's installed if anyone is interested.

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How did this work out for you ????
Cheers

After reading this post I went to the site and bought this adapter plate myself. Kinda of looks like a horseshoe. This was easily installed and I also used the dual pull brake lever. Now my single speed cruiser has dual V style brakes, and still retains the coaster brake in the background.

So it works pretty good then? I am thinking about getting one of these for the Misses bike We're about ready to start. Are You using this with fenders, if not does there appear to be enough meat to grind away clearence space, and what type of frame did You use it on?
Thanks & Cheers

Ps my coaster brake failed yesterday.. All I can say is that I'll never do coaster brakes again

motocafe said:

Ps my coaster brake failed yesterday.. All I can say is that I'll never do coaster brakes again

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I will say again that not all coaster brakes are equal. Some of the old ones found on classic cruisers made by Bendix, Musslemman, Sachs were made well and of very good materials. Pretty much bulletproof. It would help when you make a condemning statement to qualify it by mentioning what brake it was that failed... was it an old one which had not been given any attention since 1942? A newish one from a discount Chinese import? What bike was it on? I don't trust all coaster brakes, either, but some I find to be very reliable. I've had caliper brakes that were pretty good and others that were next to useless... sometimes it is just the adjustment or worn pads. What were you doing when the brake failed? Coming to a reasonable stop or standing on it? A cable can fail on a drum brake and that doesn't make drum brakes bad.
Also the suitability of one kind of brake over another has something to do with how you ride a bike... fast as possible, then you need better braking. I've ridden some of my bikes with a rear coaster brake and a front caliper brake without problems. No doubt that there are better brakes out there more suited for higher speeds.
SB

i took it all apart and the bearings were all busted