Originally Posted by
klucabike
I am 66 and have had a 24-inch Sun trike for three years. I love the trike itself, but it has the 5-speed Sturmey-Archer hub, with coaster brake, and I hate the gearing. The bike shop that sold it to me has never been able to make all 5 gears work correctly (even after a free replacement by Sturmey-Archer) so I am only using gears 2, 3 and 4. Anyway, I would encourage you to get a coaster brake on your trike, as well as the front-wheel hand brake. A single wheel hand brake is NOT going to stop your trike if you need to do so suddenly. Even then, avoid the Sturmey-Archer. (They have now come out with a 7-speed hub, but I simply don't trust them at all anymore.) Twice I have had the small chain come off the hub for the coaster brake, and not only did I lose gearing, but my coaster brake. It could have been extremely dangerous had I been going down a moderate hill.
I am looking at replacing the Sturmey-Archer with a 3-speed Shimano, with coaster brake. Does anyone have any recommendations about the safety of this hub and coaster brake?
Interesting- one of the employees at the LBS has a Sun Trike with the 7 speed hub, and let me ride it, it worked fine, so I am planning to get the same.. I didn't think about the coaster brake being so important, but some of my riding will be on roads with some hills, so I will probably need it! Thank you.. I am not the OP, but will be ordering my trike in about 6-8 weeks depending on weather (they told me 1-2 weeks for delivery, I won't be able to ride it until Late March for more than the odd day here or there...)