NewportCruiser

I'm having trouble finding a single-speed cruiser-style bike w/ hand brakes. I used to have two, so I know they exist, but one got stolen from my garage (irritating!). They were Tank (brand) Leisure (style) bikes. I purchased them used from a rental shop in Newport Beach probably 10 years. Now I can't find anything about that brand/style or any other cruiser w/ hand brakes. Local retail shops tell me cruisers only come w coaster brakes. I'm looking for adult size, and am located in So Cal. Grateful for any leads!

Philphine

curious to see what answers you get. i've never seen anything like that myself. does your's freewheel, or is it hand brakes along with the coaster brake? the closest i've sen to that, but not with cruiser styling, is one of thse walmart "fixie" bkes.

SquidPuppet

Electra makes bikes that look like cruisers that come with front rim, disc, and roller brakes. All hand operated and coupled with coasters in the back.

Felt makes bikes that look like cruisers that come with front rim brakes.

You could always just add a brake to any cruiser. 99.9% of them have forks that are drilled to receive a brake. An good brakes can be purchased quite reasonably.

Just remember, if it has multiple gears and hand brakes, it aint a real cruiser.

Needles

Just get one with gears and swap the rear for a single speed. (I guess you couldn't ride a "real" cruiser around here, except up & down the bosque.)

juniorswv

amazon tekro makes a nice front brake for a cruiser...around 18 dollars....they work great...use them with your coaster brakes...

NewportCruiser

No coaster brakes on our bikes; front and back hand brakes. I love to pedal backward as I coast down the boardwalk, and my kids (and their friends) don't adjust easily to coaster brakes; hence the desire to avoid coaster brakes. I hadn't realized that what we had was such a rarity! Between the sand and salt air, our bikes take a fair amount of abuse, so I'm not looking for anything fancy or to spend too much money. I'll check out the "fixie". Thanks!

NormanF

Old school cruiser with hand brakes:

Fairdale UK Coaster:

SquidPuppet

I don't see a old school cruiser in that photo. Heck, I don't even see a cruiser.

Standard Diamond road frame, 700c wheels, and straight blade forks.

It's a just a road bike with upright bars.

youngbull

the fairdales seem to be pretty popular around here

SquidPuppet

It looks like a cool bike. I like it. Aint a cruiser though. Frame aint proper.

Rollfast

The federal government requires at least a single hand brake it seems on new bicycles...If you don't want a Huffy/Schwinn Walmart special, why not find a Schwinn Seven middleweight, or to leave 1936 behind, how about a Trek Pure S single speed?

Multi-speed bikes with a derailleur have to have hand brakes by nature anyhow. Two-seed kickback hubs will likely be priced beyond your realm anyway, those are old.

You can convert those multi-speed cruisers to single speed and add hand brakes fairly easily anyhow, a seven or less speed should have a single chain ring on the crank and all you need to do is change the wheel and chain to the correct types.

As for straight bar 'diamond frame' bikes, yes the ideal of a 'cruiser' involves a curvilinear frame i.e. single and twin cantilever or straight lover bar and semicurved top bar, with 26x2.125" tires (1.95" is okay and 'fat' sizes are okay if you want and they fit) and comparable smaller frames in proportion. A lower bar or pair is what seems to make a cruiser, HOWEVER...

There are English frames like Hercules/Hawthorne and Schwinn Heavy-Duti that lack a lower bar in some cases (the Schwinn had it originally but by the 90s didn't) and these can be considered cruisers as well as they are quite similar. What you are looking for is the old-style casual frame and often these are middleweights. Murray, Western Flyer and Sears Spaceliner, Open Road are much the same type frame and size (slightly smaller too) Rollfast had them too, possibly earlier than Schwinn even. Sears also sold J.C. Higgins, which also had one.

Now and then you may see bare Schwinn frames that look like cruiser frames but are actually Stingray frames and made for 20-22" wheels...always ask if unsure, you are going to be in for a surprise if you goof. Done that.

SquidPuppet

I don't think that's correct. There are many cruiser models being sold that have only a coaster out back. And there are many fixed gear bikes being sold with no brakes at all.



Are you sure? I've never seen a Heavy Duti, either cantilever or straight bar that did not have multiple top tubes. Mine is from 2000 an it has double top tubes.

fietsbob

even if it has no fork hole to bolt a rim brake on, you can get a wheel built with a hub drum brake to add a front brake.

If the bikes you see dont have all the features you wish for , have them added to make it more like you desire.

Philphine

hey, is there still a thing where you can take a coaster brake hub apart and add a threaded piece for a spin on freewheel where the clip in sprocket would go? i just remembered having something like that years back, but haven't seen or heard of one in years.

if they still made them (and it fit your coaster hub) and you could work out the braking, then you have more bike selection.

Crossthreaded88

I have seen a couple of bikes go through here with the set up you describe but the brand was Madwagon. They were 26" cruisers with a freewheel and V-brakes. I thought they were odd but cool looking and I have no idea where they came from or if they are still in business. Like the man said you could always find a cheap used 7 speed and remove the gear cluster and shim up a freewheel to it and VOILA! instant single speed cruiser with handbrakes. I did see one that appeared to be a coaster brake with a rear C-brake and I thought, that's weird, but when I back pedaled to brake it freewheeled to my surprise so you can make a coaster freewheel if you know what you're doing. Here's a bike that fits the bill. A Masi Soulville you see them on CL every once and a while not cheap but they're well made.