kurremkarm

I have tried lots of different bikes-- fixed and single, i think i prefer a coaster brake. If you were going to spend some cash building up a nice light bike, possibly custom, and you wanted for whatever reason to make it a coaster brake bike, what hub would you use? And why?

jimv

Excellent! My farvorite subject. First off, I don't feel there is any special rationalization needed for putting a coaster brake on any bike .... even a custom. When I had my custom Rodriguez made, I kinda' got talked into 135mm rear spacing. Even though the frame was designed as a singlespeed, the folks at R&E were thinking maximum wheel strength (I'm a pretty big guy). While waiting for delivery, I bought a Steamroller to ride, and found that the 120mm spacing on that bike was more than strong enough and that the coaster brake ruled supreme (for me anyway). Finally, I decided that I wanted the Rodriguez to sport a CB too. Sadly, the True Temper OX Platinum tubing is all but impossible to cold set so I bit the bullet and had a new rear triangle fitted to the frame spaced at 120mm. Such is my love of the coaster brake ;-)

Regarding the choice of coaster brake? As I've mentioned in similar posts, I'm a big fan of anything Sachs like F&S (Fichtel & Sachs). Roller-clutch or cone-clutch, it doesn't matter. If you can score a Velosteel from the Czech Republic, do it. It's a Sachs roller-clutch design. Other great hubs are Perry, Sturmey-Archer SC-1 (really rare), and of coarse the Rolls Royce of hubs ... Morrow (These are tricky to service though). Others that I would ride include Bendix redline or older and New Departure (the one that started it all ... 1890's). Decent coaster brakes can be found at bike swap meets and cool bike shops ... like the sadly closed Bikesmith here in Seattle.

Keep us posted and let us know what you decide to do. If you can swing a custom I say go for it.

Take care

Jim

lz4005

I'm building a coaster hub Steamroller as soon as they make some more 53cm frames (should be later this month, damn my stumpy legs). Probably going to use a new Shimano hub because it is inexpensive and every LBS knows how to work on them and can get parts.

Much love for the 700c coaster bikes!

deathintransit

Wow.
Imagine putting a coaster brake on a fixie.

Please talk about rollin' with a coaster. All I remember was being able to bust fat skids just about everywhere on the various garage sale bikes I had as a kid.

bidaci

I built up a play bike over the winter and used a Shimano 3spd hub with a coaster brake. My knees won't be able to handle a fixie and I love the way they look. I admit that I have the use of all 3 speeds and use them but as far as the coaster brake, it is a ball. When I find a single speed freewheeling coaster brake the 3 spd will go.

DieselDan

The Shimano E-type coaster brake is easier to rebuild then some Lego sets my kid has. About the only thing Shimano still makes that is rebuildable.

DrHansNoodleman

I'm a big coaster brake fan and totally appreciate this thread and the good info. Its a dream of mine that someone will make a quality coaster brake hub in 135mm spacing.

We put on a coaster brake race every May in NYC - this year its coasties vs. fixies on a nice hilly circuit in Central Park.

-Dr. Hans

DrHansNoodleman

By the way, this bike is now coaster brake equipped:

https://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/feb/noodleman.htm

ETQC

Hey doc, I've been compulsively checking up on your site, but nothing new. It's been promised for March, you know? I just can't wait to see more for your institute

explody pup

Quick question: Can you come to a slow stop with a coaster brake or is it pretty much all skid? I remember my brothers had some cheap dirt bikes equiped with coaster brakes when I was a kid. All we ever did with them was skid. Good times. Some good wrecks, too.

I might end up going with something like this as I scare the ever-loving crap out of myself whenever I make a sharp turn on my fixed. Especially in traffic. Avoiding pedal-strike is the only thing I miss about my freewheel. I know it'd be easier to just change the way I corner. Which I am... slowly.

enduro

Coaster brakes give pretty good modulation in my experience. But skidding is so much fun!

DrHansNoodleman

Dear ETQC,

Apologies for the delay. We've switched to a quaternary metric calendar here at the Institute and its led to more than our share of foul-ups when transposing to solar dates. I'm still writing "northern mid-yule" on my checks! (<- just kidding).

In any case, a number of recent projects have kept our staff unusually busy and the situation has been exacerbated by the fact that Dr. Mastro-Grillo has been in Sydney and Tasmania for the past three weeks, doing research and attending a cycling training camp, respectively. I've also been quite busy myself securing a permit from the city and arranging necessary insurance for our race.

I hope things will be back on schedule soon, but feel free to send me your particulars and I will put you on our mailing list, and send you an official Institute patch.

Best wishes,
Dr. Hans

smurfy

Scored a really nice-looking NOS coaster brake hub and a LBS. The shop was a Schwinn shop since probably the '50s or '60's before it was recently purchased (I think the former owner retired). They had to go into the deep, dark basement to retrive it!
It's never been laced to a wheel and it seems to be very high quality, not at all like the new cheapies. I don't know what brand it is and I would like to ID it. I can post pics if anybody's interested.

jimv

Hi All...

Back from my seagoing adventures. Please post pics, I'll try to ID it for you.

Jim

Kogswell Cycles

There's a bike shop in NYC that's selling 700c coaster wheels on eBay for $50. They look good enough and for $50 it's hard to go wrong.

I rode a Bendix 700c wheel for -many- years. Easy to repack, sturdy, great for commuting since there's no need to take your hands off the bars if you want to scrub off a little speed.

I road that wheel up hills and down.

Just be sure to have some kind of alternate brake in case something weird happens to the hub. It's happened to me and it's no fun when a bike has no brakes.

Matthew

Treedan

JimV said:

"I'm a big fan of anything Sachs like F&S (Fichtel & Sachs). Roller-clutch or cone-clutch,
it doesn't matter. If you can score a Velosteel from the Czech Republic, do it. It's a Sachs
roller-clutch design. Other great hubs are Perry, Sturmey-Archer SC-1 (really rare), and
of coarse the Rolls Royce of hubs ... Morrow (These are tricky to service though). Others
that I would ride include Bendix redline or older and New Departure (the one that started
it all ... 1890's). Decent coaster brakes can be found at bike swap meets and cool bike
shops ... like the sadly closed Bikesmith here in Seattle."

This is good advise: I would add J.C.Higgins (Sears bikes) hubs to the list. The older the better for typical coaster brake hubs, newer shimanos are cheaply made and have high rolling resistance. The Sachs Torpedo hub is possibly the closest thing to a "high-performance" C.B. hub, and I've read that, although they haven't been produced for decades, Velosteel has adopted the best elements of it's design. Velosteel, as far as I know, does not have a U.S. distributor, but they might sell a bunch of them directly. The Re-Cycle bike co-op here in Anchorage is considering building a fleet of coasties around the Velosteel hub to lend. My first coastie road bike effort cost 49 dollars and is comprised mostly a salvaged parts. It is very stiff and will get a bigger chainring and city tires in the summer. Here are some pics of my "track huffy":

https://23skidoo.org/gawk/v/treedan/b...eeds/coasties/

deathhare

Damn..this thread is from 2005.

operator

seriosly

baxtefer

there's been a lot of thread necromancy these past couple of days.
i guess they fixed the search feature?

(I miss jimv)

JeanCoutu

Coaster brakes rock. If you disagree, it means that you are wrong.

Youngin

I use a coaster on my S.S.. Looks just as hip as a fixie, but I can coast downhill. Love my fixie though too though..

steppinthefunk 

How about we just turn it into the "show off your coaster brake" then?

Here's my wife's:

ERabbit

stepinthefunk, where did you get that coaster, it is sexy

jim-bob

Coaster brake bikes?

carlton

Now is just friggin cool. I don't care who you are.