Obeast

I have an 8 speed bike with just coastal brake that is not being put to much use. I think I am so used to hand brakes that I kind of neglect it unless I put out some money and get rim brake for the front wheel...

dabac

The word is COASTER brake, if you wish to discuss it further.
Coaster brakes aren't all created equal. The ones I grew up using seems to have been several notches better than what many Americans have experienced. Extremely reliable, low-service items. Retracting brake shoes too, so very little added drag.
Apart from the limits imposed on any rear brake, fully sufficient for casual/utility riding in my region. Didn't know they could overheat until I came across a guy who'd done a very primitive motorized conversion and managed to cook his hub when the motor didn't want to turn off...
Nowadays, I usually get mildly annoyed when the brake interferes with getting the pedal into the power zone for easy start, but no big deal.
Maybe once a year I end up transporting something on a bike that interferes with hand brake use. Having access to a coaster brake bike can be nice then.

Giacomo 1 

When I was a kid, I always rode sting ray bikes with coaster brakes. I was sort of jealous of the guys with the Schwinn Crates that had the 5 speed stick shift and hand brakes - very exotic! But they had one flaw, they couldn't do skids with those brakes like we could with a coaster brake. We could leave skids for miles with those things. They were a lot of fun.

ollo_ollo

Coaster brakes: all there was on most balloon tire bikes when I was a kid. Slow to stop but great for skidding. For Christmas 1951 I and my best friend received "English Racers", actually Raleigh Sports with 3 spd IGH. Which had rim brakes. We quickly discovered one could stop better using a front & rear brake. This was after we learned how to apply them without going over the bars! Don

randyjawa 

I'll take the hand brakes, both of them, for safety's sake.

rustystrings61 

It occurs to me that while "coaster" is the correct terminology in terms of design, considering how many of these rascals I see every time I go on vacation along the South Carolina shore, they could be called "coastal" brakes, at least in that application. I suppose for meandering along at 6 mph on a 50 pound beach cruiser near Myrtle Beach or down the long drag of Edisto Beach they're okay, but I prefer caliper rim brakes fore and aft.

ksryder

I prefer coastal breaks with flat peddles.

shoota 

Chapeau, well done.

madpogue 

I prefer caliber brakes and tow clips.

thumpism 

This thread needs breaks.

My question is, if the OP seldom uses the hub brake and has yet to install the front rim brake, how is he stopping?

cb400bill

Classy...

Giacomo 1 

At the speed most coaster brake bikes can go, I don't really see a safety issue.

They are usually used on upright cruiser type bikes that normally loaf along at a nice sedate 5 - 10 mph. And boy, they sure were fun on sting ray bikes! Wouldn't have had half the fun I did without them.

dabac

What?
It wasn't intended as a snub or an insult, if that's what you think.
One way or another, the OP can benefit from knowing the right word for the part he's talking about. That's all.

ollo_ollo

Well then, I prefer caliper brakes and toe clips. Just trying to help. Don

Phil_gretz

'Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?'

seypat

I only prefer coastal brakes when riding around the edge of big bodies of water.

Giacomo 1 

I have to agree!

Next summer I will have to rent me a cruiser at the beach with coaster brakes just to remember how cool and simple they were, not to mention just plain fun. Good times!

Gary Fountain

Yeah.....they were fun. How long could your skid marks extend?

verktyg 

ollo_ollo you older than dirt!

I got my first bike in 1951 or 52. It was a maroon and ivory RollFast like this sleek beauty and it had a horn case between the top tubes. How to stop with out brakes? Sprag! Drag both feet on the ground!



Several kids had the local bike shop mount Weinmann side pull front brakes on their coaster brake bikes. I guess they had different style rims.

Several years later, my dad brought home an "English 3 Speed Racer" with side pull brakes. On the first ride I locked up the front brakes on a steep gravel covered alley and did a header!

We used enjoy locking up our coaster brakes and skid for 10-15 feet on that hill!

I've been riding rim brakes for so long, the last time I was on a coaster brake bike I'd forgotten how to use it. Took several tries.

Comments about wearing out the brakes on downhill rides? In the mid 70's the soon to be famous MTBers were doing the Repack Race on Mt. Tam in Marin County, CA. Hint, Repack stood for the need to go home at the bottom and repack the grease in you rear coaster brake hub bearings because it was smoking at the bottom.

https://www.bikemag.com/videos/video...r-be-klunking/

At the same time the Marin County guys were riding coaster brake clunkers, we were riding road bikes with CX sewups in the mountains of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado! One of the guys that rode with us is still offering MTB tours in the region.

Riding deer trails up at 9,000 feet in the Jemez Mountains, northern New Mexico in 1977.



verktyg

Giacomo 1 

Well, they felt like they went on for miles, but realistically on the right surface in a full sprint and the way cool slick tire I had on my heavy Iverson Charger sting ray, my guess is I could get 30' or so (unless of course I fishtailed and layed her down, which happened more than once!)

Couldn't do that on those high end Raleigh Choppers, but man did I want one!

MattTheHat 

That's my oldest bicycle memory...skidding the rear slick on my yellow Stingray. Good times!

-Matt

Gary Fountain

Hahaha - 30 feet Giacomo 1 - every foot would have been worth the rubber loss - great fun and great memories.

PSSSST - Don't tell anyone but I still have an old bike with a footbrake and I can still lock-up the back wheel. These days I can skid for at least 3'.

ollo_ollo

[QUOTE=verktyg;20641390]ollo_ollo you older than dirt!

I've been riding rim brakes for so long, the last time I was on a coaster brake bike I'd forgotten how to use it. Took several tries.



Now that's old! And for 1977, nifty chapeaus. Don

verktyg 

That was a very rare Suntour chapeau...



We had just crested a hill and were waiting for our friend Tom to catch up. He got a stick in his front wheel as he arrived. That's what we were laughing about. (see picture in previous message)

Here's a Crescent chapeau from 1976. I still have it.






Getting back on topic, in 1908 Sturmey-Archer offered a 3 speed internal gear hub with a coaster brake.

I think that 3 speed coaster brake hubs were available on some sting ray style bikes????

Sturmey-Archer is still producing that style hub. Sturmey-Archer | Products

Not be be outdone, in 1912 the German company Fichtel & Sachs brought out a 4 speed IGH with a coaster brake.

verktyg

John E

My first bicycle was an early 1950s Schwinn "middleweight" with a 2-speed Bendix coaster hub and a gearshift that looked like a brake lever. I was happy 6 months later to graduate to a low-end Bianchi road bike. About a dozen years later, when the Bianchi was the least of my three road bikes, I converted it to a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed coaster brake transmission, one of the early ones that braked through the planetaries, rather than directly.

I agree with the others -- coaster brakes overheat and do not provide good deceleration until almost at a stop, when they are great for skid stunts. I am not a fan.