Help with brakes

M

mnerren

New Member
I have a cheap Rip Curl cruiser from Target and the coaster brake is terrible. I ordered some front and back Sun Lite brand brakes and they don't seem to work very well either. Is there a good brake out there that works on these 26" beach cruiser wheels? This bike does well over 30 mph and I want my brakes to work like my racing bike does. Any ideas? I could just take it to the bike shop and let them fix it up, but that will cost an arm and a leg I am sure.
 

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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!
 
Thanks for the info. I don't really want to spend the time and money to go to disc brakes, I am sure I can find some basic rim friction brakes that will work fine. I will just toss these cheap Sun Lite brakes in the garbage and go to the schwinn store like I should have in the first place. I think part of the problem is these brakes are Single-pivot side-pull calliper brakes, which seem to work fine on narrow wheels, but not very good on wide whells. Word to the wise, don't spend money on the SunLite brakes that some of the vendors on here are selling for $20 when you can get better brakes cheaper at your local bike store. No wonder they threw a free T shirt in the box with the shipment, they probably paid $5 for these things and then sell them for $20. Lesson learned.

I should have read this first

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_brake_systems
 
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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!
 

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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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
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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.
 
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?
 
Whizzerd said:
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.
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Thanks, that is another great idea, how much are the forks?
 
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 installed the BMX style side pull calipers and they work better than the SunLite's I originally had. Not the best, but with the coaster and not going full speed I should be okay for now. Just put this thing together and trying out different stuff right now. I have 3 sets of extra calipers, cables and levers if anyone in the Jacksonville area needs some. Too cheap to even considering shipping them out. I also tried out the retro style speedometer, that was junk. I will go with digital and get a shielded spark plug cable I guess. Maybe I should just install a GPS on it....
 
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.
 
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