wait? you all use rim brakes instead of coaster brakes? those things are dangerous! a cable can snap without warning. levers can fail. if you lose one brake pad the whole brake is suddenly useless and the whole aparatus is attached to the fork of your bike by only one tiny little screw: if that comes undone your stopping power disappears. heck, i actually had a friend spend a month in the hospital because he applied his rim brake continuously on a long descent. the heat from constant braking melted his tubular tire glue and he lost his front tire at 50 mph!

that sounds unreasonable and alarmist, i know. and that's how the anti-coaster-brake posts here sound to those of us who know and use these beasts.

the coaster brakes of today (new shimano ones and, if you are super lucky a velosteel) are powerful and effective. they work in all weather and are much less prone to dramatic and sudden failure. yes, you shouldn't use them on monster hills. and yes, you shouldn't expect to stop "on a dime" when travelling at high speeds (which is the same thing as using them on monster hills, really), but coaster brakes are perfectly safe and effective provided you:

a) use them for their intended purpose
b) maintain them properly

and is there any technology out there, bicycle brake or otherwise, to which those two caveats don't apply?