Originally Posted by
Nightshade
No, Worksman do not have brake problems at all. A Worksman bike is the ONLY bike allowed
to decend the steep trail of the Hawaiian mountain.
To wit........
"A Worksman model was formerly sold as the Urban Assault Cycle, the Hum Vee of bikes. A similar style of bike is used in Hawaii for a downhill ride at one of the islands valcanos. The ride is 27 miles long, and the drum brakes are the only brakes that can handle that job."
I would like to see your source. I did a bit of digging. I found a National Park Service study at
http://www.cruiserphil.com/Pdf/NPS-safety-analysis.pdf that is a risk-assessment of bicycle tour operations involving commercially guided bicycle tours within Haleakalä National Park. There is no mention in the PDF of any limitation to a given brand of bike, nor to a given type of brake.
The text you quote above looks to me to be marketing-copy, possibly written by a bicycle tour operator with an eye towards making themselves look good over their choice of equipment. It's one thing for a tour company to decide on one brand of bike, but that does not support your claim that only the one brand is permitted.