Originally Posted by
John E
Hey Walter -- it's good to hear from you again. I think I have mentioned that I had two upper limb amputee customers during my stint at Bikecology. One correctly had both brakes set up for single handle operation, whereas the other used only the rear brake, despite my begging him to consider a dual braking system, since most of the stopping power comes from the front.
Hi John,
Good to hear from you too. I remember you talking about that. Agree whole-heartedly with you and would go so far to say that if you're going to use one brake it should be the front. Fear of the front brake must be overcome if you ever want to effectively stop. Motorcycling, in a way, got me into this situation but it did teach me to use the front brake when riding on 2 wheels.
Originally Posted by
Monster Pete
I don't think operating both brakes from a single lever is an ideal solution, since there are cases where you'd need to use one brake on its own. A better solution would be to have a front hand brake and rear coaster brake. Using an IGH with inbuilt coaster brake would give you multiple gears and two independent brakes, yet be operable with one hand only.
Agree and disagree. The rear brake alone is useful for adjusting speed like when descending but true stopping power comes from the front. In my experience I stopped as efficiently when using a front brake alone but I don't have to descend very far or often where I live.
I like IGH bikes but they have limitations when compared to a quality lightweight roadbike. Coasterbrakes are not the most efficient style of brake and don't really allow you to modulate your speed. They're pretty much all or nothing. If I were to set up a commuter your idea is probably pretty close to what I'd do but I like fast rides and even the occasional race so what I've done seems to be the best compromise I've come up with, yet. I may see or be told of a better idea tomorrow though.