Burning through rear hubs!

Moisstink

Moisstink

New Member
I am wondering what rims out there have a decent rear coaster brake hub set up? I have been riding about 300 miles a month at about 20 mph max and that is about all my rear rim will take. At the end of the month it seems trashed. I have been using the Avenir 36H Nutted Cruiser Style Rear Wheel with Coaster Brake. With shipping about 40$ a pop that is getting a bit expensive and frustrating. I was thinking do I need to go to moped wheels, worksman, or what is the best option for long life and reliability. I don't have to be purdy pa, it just needs to ROLL...
 
Replace the factory grease with high-temp wheel bearing grease and be SURE it is adjusted properly.
I have no problems even with low end coaster brake wheels once I do this.
 
Worksman rims have been proven to be very reliable.
Just recommending a hub by itself, Shimano CB110.
Whatever you use, clean it and re pack it with quality high temp grease regularly.
You are asking it to do something it was never intended to do and do it reliably
I would recommend a 300 mile interval, but I know that other folks here can make a better recommendation than me based on their experiences. My only coaster brake bike has less than 100 miles on it so I cannot give good first hand advice there.
 
The second rim I bought I shot some high temp grease in the hub housing but did not clean out the factory grease. I thought that they just went light and it needed high temp added to give it a good base. I am on my second rim and it is acting strange as in the 1st step to blowing out. I am going to repack today after soaking in gas. You both mentioned adjustment, I just slapped the thing back together to where it seemed right compared to the breakdown. Is their something specific that needs to be done? Thanks for all your help.
 
There is a lot more to properly adjusting bearing pre-load than "just slapping it together".
There are many good tutorials on bearing adjustment out there. Do a little research.

Specifically what is failing in your wheels/hubs? What do you mean by "it seems trashed"?

Tom
 
Here ya go.
Heavy duty hub with a hub mounted engine drive sprocket and band brake for $50.

http://www.gasbike.net/bike-motor-engine-heavy-duty-axle-kit-non-free-wheel.htm

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You'll need to buy a screw on 18 or 19T freewheel sprocket for the right side pedal drive and a handlebar brake lever and cable.

They are wider than a typical coaster brake hub so you may need to spread your chain stays a bit as well but you get a heavy duty hub with dead true drive sprocket and the band brake works OK.

Note these are the hubs used in the wheels on the old Grubee GT1 bicycles made for 2-stroke motorizing back in 2010.

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Pay close attention to how you assemble the wheel and mount it as it's easy to get the inner nuts that set the bearing tracks too tight or too loose.
 
By slapping it together I meant their are two bearing sets two brake pads and two sides to the whole inner hub. I could not see how too many options on adjustment their was. Just reverse engineering. I am off now to see what other ways of adjustment their is. Thanks again everyone. Oh yeah, by trashed I meant that the wheel seemed to be dragging and not having a smooth rotation. I did notice that while repacking the grease this morning that the inner hub looked good but a spoke was broken, so that is taken care of now (I am sure that it didn't help things.)
 
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The Chinese are now making a version of that brake which has internal brake shoes instead of the brake band. I've got a couple on order at the moment and I'm looking forward to trying them out.

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I have to concur with the others... The coaster brakes work fine as long as you take the hub apart & pack it with quality grease.

I've built plenty of bikes over the years... My preference is for a rear coaster & a front disc... (but any kind of front brake is better than none)! ;)
 
Any recommendation of how often you should repack the grease, how many miles between if you're only averaging 20 mph. Thanks.
 
I would repack it as soon as the brake starts feeling (or sounding) questionable.

Also... if you don't already have one?, get a good front brake on the bike. (Front brakes are reponsible for about 80% of the total stopping power on a 2-wheeled vehicle) & will take a lot of stress off of the coaster brake. ;)
 
Ditto: It doesn't take long to teach yourself how to combine your front and rear brakes for ultimate braking. The problem comes when you have more than one bike and one has coasters and the other one doesn't. There can be a moment of panic when you start to back pedal for brakes and the pedals just freewheel instead of slowing you down. You remember to grab for that other lever real quick :)

Tom
 
One thing I have noticed on coaster brakes is after braking, to pedal forward just a tab. This seems to help eliminate any drag on the brake.
 
I had a coaster break on my motorized bike I hated it it never lasted long so I got a free wheel hub in the rear and put hand brakes on it and the difference it made it costed so much better and less resistance on the motor it increases the speed rmfla
 
i run a cheap wal mart cruiser bike with the cheapest coaster break i ever seen . i have over 2,000 miles on it now and its still breaking just fine ! i have not even greased it !!! i cant beleive your trashing hubs in 300 miles !!! are you riding the breaks or what ? you may have them set to tight.

i would love a nice drum/band break hub setup with sprocket ! that would make my life easy i tell ya would go with a 22t free wheel though and a 36 t crank sprocket for easy pedaling
 
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