Coaster Brake Exploded

Most, if not all, negative posts about coasters are from people with a cheap chinese hub on a cheap bike.

A quality, old USA, german, or english hub is the way to go.

Huge fan of coaster breaks my self. When a quality coaster break doesn't really have an opportunity to fail. Abuse any break system on ANY vehicle and it will fail. No the limitations and your good to go. If you have problems with lubrication try Lucas Red N Tacky, it's rated to 500° continuous, which is 50° more than Moly-Graph, although both molybdenum and graphite are better lubricants than petroleum. The issue is the good stuff is suspended in junk. Once the grease itself breaks down the moly and graphite goes with.

Riflemen have been using molybdenum as a projectile (bullet) coating for years. I'm sure some of you folks have seen the cartridges with black bullets. Applied dry or wet (then covered with wax to keep the moly in place till the bullet is in the bore). Molybdenum has the effect of raising the velocity by lowering the coefficient of friction between bullet and bore, I.e. lubricating.

Molybdenum can be bought in a spray on form, perhaps I should try coating my Bendix parts...

I run dual breaks in the rear, a set of shimanos on stanchions and a nameless set of "horseshoe" calipers mounted in their typical frame-crossmember location. I don't run a front break because I don't weigh enough to keep the rear tire on the ground if I stab the front set.

One point I feel I must bring up. Caliper break pads go bad in long term storage. Properly maintained coaster breaks do not. Caliper pads get hard after awhile, and won't grip

I'm sorry for resurrecting this necro but i just recently had my coaster break snap right in half while doing about 25..that was some sheeettt

coasters never fail to fail - they were designed for bikes that only go about 15mph

crassius said:

coasters never fail to fail - they were designed for bikes that only go about 15mph

Click to expand...

wrong. The first motorcycles had coaster brakes. Many 60's mopeds had coaster brakes.

The problem with coaster brakes, is now, with your cheap ass huffys and their garbage china parts, coaster brakes got a bad name.

Refer to my earlier post (like 5 years ago) and get an old, american hub, grease it, and you'll be golden.

I have to agree that coaster brakes work fine on these bikes (as long as you also have a good front brake & you grease the coaster)!!

I use coasters on almost all of my bikes.

I am also a big coaster brake fan. My bike can approach 50mph on an extended stretch, so I obviously do not depend on the back brake for quick stopping. Up front, I use a Honda C100 front drum brake. It’s not as large as a full size motorcycle drum brake, but it stops me really well.

I use the Morrow coaster brake mentioned in this thread, it is from another era, built crazy strong, large bearings, very large shoes. A friend of mine told me about the Morrow brake, they were used by the original “klunker” mountain bikers in their downhill races in the ‘70’s. When I race, I put a lot of stress on the brake, and the grease gets hot and flings out of the dust cap. By the end of the day, the bearings need to be repacked already. For daily riding, I usually usually repack the bearings every 2 or 3 months, depending on mileage.

Like everyone else says, if you use a quality vintage hub and keeping it well greased, coaster brakes will not fail at speeds. It just cant be used for the main braking force.