freecoaster or not?

[Street rider]

hey ive been riding a cassette for a long while and i dont know if i want to make the switch to a freecoaster. it looks way rad, but im not sure about it yet. help?

[ChristAir]

Are you willing to pay the price. If so, KHE has freecoasters with adjustable slack (Geisha models) and one with adjustable slack AND a one piece 14mm axle (Reverse). Many freecoasters do not have one piece axles, so I would go with the Reverse if you're riding hard. KHE has the some of the best freecoasters around.

[wethepeople]

I got a Nankai a while ago thinking a freecoaster would be sweet.


I sold it a month later, not my cup of tea, I would much rather pedal when I roll back than hit my knee.

[midschool22]

I have the Reverse. I love it. The gap takes some getting used to but once you do...:D

[FuzzyRyder]

wait for g-sport. freecoasters suck right now.

[ChristAir]

I heard of this but I've never felt like trying it. Take a regular coaster brake hub and remove the brake in it (that's the part I'm not sure is possible). That way, you now have a freecoaster and you can try it out before you buy a $100+ freecoaster. Like I said, I have't tried it out, but it might work.

[FuzzyRyder]

i've done it, it does work.

[Street rider]

thanks for the advice...i might try that regular coaster thing for a while

[abowler10154]

or you can take your chain off and do a 180

[minichamp31]

I heard of this but I've never felt like trying it. Take a regular coaster brake hub and remove the brake in it (that's the part I'm not sure is possible). That way, you now have a freecoaster and you can try it out before you buy a $100+ freecoaster. Like I said, I have't tried it out, but it might work.

Yeah, it works. But there is A LOT of slack. It's almost painful to ride. But now that's my trampoline bike.

[ChristAir]

Trampoline bike?

[eightdip]

reverse sucks, geisha is good but 3 of my mates ruined theirs. Best bet is the federal

[ChristAir]

I kinda figure the coaster brake thing would work. You can keep it from having too much slack by just bending the tabs on the brake stop. One of my brothers friends was pedaling forward fine one day, but when he went to stop, his coaster brake failed and the only thing wrong with it was the tabs were trashed (so a new brake stop fixed it). It has the same amount of slack with no tabs (thus no brakes) as when the brake works.

[chicagotypewrit]

my firend had the federal and it got all ****ed up but me and another one of my friends have the geisha and i highly recomend it. i also rode a cassette for a long while but the freecoaster was something new and i have been riding one for a good year now and im not lookin back. so much fun

[wds178]

The Federal Exploder & KHE Reverse have the same internals. Here's what I pulled out of my Federal hub after two weeks of light "old man" riding:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/wds178/Misc/BearingShards.jpg
Yeah, like MANY of the Federal/KHE freecoasters, my driver bearings self-destructed. I'm still running the hub with one good bearing & one half-exploded bearing. So far so good, but I feel it's just a matter of time before they both go. Why don't I get new bearings? Simple - I'm lazy & it's working now.
If you go the Federal/KHE route you have to be VERY cautious on how tight the cone nuts are. Too tight, and they compress when tightening your wheel in the frame. This puts too much pressure on the tiny driver bearings. I run my cone nuts at just barely finger tight. It's worked well for me.
Federal/KHE both claim to have fixed this problem in current hubs, but I'd be cautious.
Interestingly, the Geisha doesn't seem to have this prob. A friend of mine with the Geisha has been problem free. We feel that the 3-pc axle in the Geisha keeps pressure from compressing the driver bearings.
My advice, take off your chain. Go fool around in an empty parking lot. If you like not back-pedaling, wait for the Odyssey hub. You'll end up wishing you did.
Also - two things to keep in mind, freecoasters, by nature are a High-maintenance hub. If you don't know what you are doing or are simply not a fan of working on your bike, it may not be for you. The Federal/KHE are the closest to maintenance-free currently (except for the bearing stuff).
Second - a freecoaster doesn't make it any easier to learn to go backwards. But once you can ride backwards well, I find that it can help in trying to learn to do things while going backwards.
-Bill

[Street rider]

wds points out a lot of good ideas...like just messin around in a parking lot without a chain... i think im gonna go and try that

thanks guys

[minichamp31]

Trampoline bike?

Take the wheels, cranks, chain, and brakes off. Deflate a basketball and Duct tape the crap out of it onto the forks. Deflate a football and tape it on the back dropouts. I have to make something to put my feet on so it's not a pain.

[ChristAir]

Sweet! I've heard of taking a rope and a ttaching to a tree with old bike tires at the other end. Have the tires about shoulder? height and then slip them on under your arms like a harness and ride. Now you have a swing that mimics the motion of a halfpipe, but without the side-effects. Make sure you use a Wal-mart bike though...

[Street rider]

my friend made a trampoline bike. all he did was tke a sheet of foam and then just layer it on the rear dropouts and on the end of his forks, then cover it with like 5-6 layers of ductape. then all he did was tighten his cranks down so that they didnt move all over when he was bouncing. it worked pretty good until he had to bail and he threw his bike into a fence, cracking the frame

[minichamp31]

I didn't think about tightening the cranks. That would have worked way better. But now I'm stripping the paint and stuff of it and repainting it blue and orange. I can get it sandblasted for free too.

[Street rider]

yea it woked pretty good. and if you cant tighten em, the just J.B Weld the crap out of it. two tubes of that (one tube per side) should hold them still for a while