pookieman

Hi

We were given a gift of a bike for my 3 year old, it's a very small bicycle and fits her fine. Thing is it has a coaster brake, I wouldn't have chosen this bike but we have it now, I think it confuses her what happens when it randomly seems to stop when they pedal backwards and the bike has a regular brake on it anyway so I'd rather she uses that, she doesn't really get up to much speed anyway.

So I'm thinking of removing/disabling it, but I don't know where to begin, I did some googling on youtube and found some links but they were for adult bikes, I'm assuming a childs bike is the same. There is a bracket on the rear hub that is screwed to the frame I'm assuming that is used as some sort of leverage to activate the brake? Anyone have any ideas or suggestions how to proceed, a link to a video/pictures would be great.

In addition we are also looking at getting a trailgator so it would be a bit of pain for the tower if she is using the coaster brake whilst being towed.

Thanks for any advice

cobba

Maybe you're expecting too much from a 3 year old.

Maybe your kid isn't confused and she actually wants to stop.

If your 3 year old finds a coaster brake confusing, she'd probably find any other type of brake confusing too.

I reckon you should leave it as it is and let her learn.

SkyDog75

To disable/remove the coaster brake, you'd basically need to replace the coaster brake hub with a non coaster-brake hub and freewheel. It may not make much sense to disassemble the rear wheel and lace in a new hub, so practically, we're talking about replacing the rear wheel.

On inexpensive kids' bikes, especially ones fitted with coaster brakes, the rims may not have ideal brake tracks for caliper brakes. Just another thing to keep in mind.

okane

...do not have the coordination, strength, and sometimes their hand is to small to safely use hand brakes. Keep the coaster brake for now and on the next bike you can combo coaster brake with handbrake.

Wilfred Laurier

I agree with the above. Little bodies generally find backpedal braking easier to master than hand lever braking. In fact, many parents remove the hand brakes from little bikes and leave the coaster.

likebike23

My daughter didn't really have the coordination to pedal and steer a bike until she was almost 4 years old. When you see the little dude on the rail trail riding with no training wheels at 3 years old, you need to realize that he is not the norm.

dabac

It's possible to disassemble the hub and remove the brake shoes, which will remove the brake function. But AFAIR it still won't be possible to back-pedal any old how.

Scooby Snax

Based on the question, I'd say removing the brake isn't for you. Unless you can build a wheel, because you would need to replace the hub entirely.
Replacing the coaster brake with a wheel with a free wheel would be the easiest option.

But again, having two braking systems on your kids bike doubles their chances of stopping in a panic situation. Speaking from experience, when they first learn to ride, they tend to run into things.

a77impala

I used to volunteer at local Yellow Bike, when rehabing kids bike I always removed hand brakes if it was equipped with a coaster brake. The hand brakes on most kids bikes are to hard to operate or to big or not of any use or just plain junk.
Leave the coaster on and remove hand brake, end of confusion.

HillRider

I agree that the hand brakes on most children's bikes, particularly Department Store quality ones, are terrible. I remember teaching my granddaughters to ride and the hand brakes on their bike were so bad I could not have used them to stop the bike myself, never mind a child's hand strength.