My neighbor threw this bike away when he moved out, does anyone have an idea what brand this bicycle is? It has a Schwinn seat and Schwinn tires that say Schwinn Typhoon, I don't see a serial number on the bottom of the bottom bracket. I think it is one of those Walmart brands. I am pretty sure that there is sound coming from the coaster brake hub, it almost at times sounds like a bottom bracket problem but if I stop pedaling the sound from the rear is still there. It glides nicely and I rode it for 15 miles, I also noticed that the brace that secures the coaster brake is a little loose but I held my finger on it and the sounds were still there. Any suggestions, has anyone come across this before? Thanks in advance.

What sort of noise is it that you think is coming from the rear hub? I've heard bottom brackets make all kinds of noises so that isn't very helpful. How far does the crank have to turn when transitioning from 'drive' to 'brake'? Have you removed the rear wheel to feel if the axle is loose or binding within the hub?

It's a modern era Chinese Schwinn. A perfectly fine bike if taken care of properly. I've had one for over 15 trouble free years.

The reaction arm must be 100% immobilized. The strap must fit the frame tightly, with no play, and the arm must be securely tightened to the strap. If it is allowed to move, even a little, the parts inside attempt to unscrew themselves. This will have negative affects on braking and prevent a bearing adjustment from holding.

Are you mechanical? Do you have tools? Coaster brake hubs and Ashtabula one piece cranks/bottom brackets are quite simple. If I came across a bike like that where it's maintenance history is unknown, I'd do a full service on the rear hub, bottom bracket and head set just for peace of mind and a known fresh start.

It's a clicking noise, I initially thought that it was a bottom bracket or pedal issue but I stopped pedaling when i heard the sound and it still made that clicking sound. It initially had some "give" , I attributed it to a loose chain and that solved that problem. Now the brake response is nice. I am going to remove the rear wheel in a few hours and check it out. Thank you for the advice and questions.

Thank you, I was trying to find out the model so I could see what component parts (crank, rear hub, etc.)it has. It's a very nice bike, I don't know why he would just throw it away just because he bought a new bike, but thanks to him! It was a little neglected but 40 minutes later she was ready to ride.

There is some slack with the reaction arm, it looks stock to me and the strap is tightened all of the way. The nut inside of the frame and outside of the reaction arm was loose enough to turn by hand. I just checked it out right now and I will take the wheel off and inspect it.

I'm ok mechanically, it's been a long time since I had experience with single speed with the action arms. I more used to road bikes and mountain bikes. That's a great idea to do a full service on this bike. I put 15 plus miles on it yesterday and it was a nice fun change from my road bikes. Now I have to learn how to service Coaster brake hubs.

Thanks for the great advice.

Thank you both for the excellent advice!

It probably has a Shimano CB-E110. Coaster brakes can be funky to disassemble and reassemble if you go at it the wrong way. And often people will attack it from the wrong end because the correct end is counter intuitive. If you know a few tricks it's easier than tying your shoelace. If you run into any snags or hiccups along the way, shoot me a PM and I'll run you through it.

Be careful with youtube videos. There are many that do it the hard way. It gets done, but their methods are clumsy, redundant, messy and time consuming.

Also, and this is critical, do something to completely immobilize the strap. That small amount of up and down motion repeats itself every time you transition from accelerating to braking and vice versa. Every time. That's what caused that big nut to work itself free. Make a shim out of soda can or whatever it takes so there is no slop between the strap and the chain stay. Or you can measure the diameter of your chain stay and buy a snazzy new Sturmy Archer strap in the right size for just a few bucks. And get your self a bigger replacement bolt for the strap if there is slop between the bolt and the strap/arm hole. You want that bolt to be snug in the hole.

Bah, a length of bailing twine and a pretty box knot should do the trick... maybe even a trash bag twist-tie.

Like I said........."Or whatever it takes"

we did the piece of coat hanger thing as kids.

Thanks for the i9nformation. What is the correct end to start with, the sprocket side? I do hear a lot of noise coming from the brake side, I secured the strap with a shim that is tight. It sounds like brake pads are loose and moving around inside the hub. It's my day off, I'm going to have a burger and beer and then work on that wheel. I was looking for Cruiser wheels for sale on Craigslist in case I mess the wheel up, no luck but I found a complete Cruiser and a thrift store for $20 bucks. It's an old Murray Monterray. Thanks for the advice!

Look on the reaction arm to identify the hub. It should be clearly stamped with the brand and model number. I can provide a detailed drawing if it's a Shimano. Then when I explain which pieces to leave assembled it'll be easier for both of us and more clear for you. Yes, disassembly begins on the drive side, but the guts are removed from the non drive side.

I'd bet that the hub is not damaged. But if it is, replacing the entire thing with a brand new one is around $20.00.

That's good to know!

It's amazing the things we did as kids yet survived into adulthood. How many of us had pedals that we let fall apart until there was only a spindle left that we'd gouge our ankles on?

What I like to use now are PVC strips cut from thin walled 4" household drain pipe. You can warm it up in the oven at about 190°F at which temp it becomes soft and pliable. Form it around the chainstay and you end up with a nice strong form-fitting brake band that doesn't mar the paint.

I use clear helicopter tape. It's tough and stays put. It's thick and you can apply as many layers as needed to crate the perfect diameter for the strap to bite. It protects the paint and it's clear so you don't notice it unless you look for it. And the paint is protected when you slide the strap forward or backward.

I remember riding on just pedal spindles too. Barefoot. What were we thinking?

Back in the 1960's I got a new Schwinn Typhoon (their cheapest model) to use on my paper route. Made $5 per week and paid off the bike in about 3 months.

First mod I made was to loose the fenders, kickstand, and chain guard (made my dad quite angry) which was all part of being cool.

So too the pedals once they wore to the point of being spindles. Local swimming pool was about 2 miles away which made it show of bravado to pedal spindles on a hot day with bare feet. What we didn't realize then that it was more a show of stupidity than courage.

the one thing I remember is most kids had a pair of vice grips clamped to their seat post, like the original multi tool.

So I opened the hub up starting with the sprocket or "drive side" and took the internal parts out on the brake side. I cleaned and lubricated the brake pads, bearing etc. It was pretty easy to reassemble (like a little puzzle) adjusted the cone so that everything spun freely and the wheel had no side to side play. I thought that I was a "genius" my wife was "impressed", I tightened everything up and tested the wheel by pedaling the bike on it's back and it was nice and quiet.

As soon as I put my fat ass on the bike and pedaled it that crazy sound came back at about the 1/2 mile mark. One thing that I didn't pay attention to was the space on the brake side to the frame was a lot less than the space to frame on the sprocket side. I think that was the result of the bike being ridden with a loose coaster brake and it started un doing itself like you stated.

I disassembled the hub again, evened out the space, re-lubricated everything, and it went back together very easily. I thought that I solved the problem but the same sound happened again. The bike glides well and brakes much better as well. Do you think that the problem might be the clutch? The sound does goes away when I ride it for a while but will still come back during the same ride. The best way to describe the sound is that is a ticking, popping, and sometimes grinding sound without any feel of the bike slowing down or any harder effort when I pedal.

Yep! Been there done that!

Could you describe that in more detail please? I'm not "Seeing" it and I suspect we could have an issue there.

Also, I'll ask again if it's a Shimano hub. I ask because KT hubs look almost identical but have had issues. Over the years KT made some very small changes to the shape and angle of the ramps on the clutches. They made the necessary changes to the shoes as well. As you can imagine, any mismatch in parts is going to be a BIG problem even the the parts are only slightly different. Some of their hubs were actually shipped out with mismatched parts. The bikes that received those hubs still worked, but there were issues obviously.

Ticking could be a lot of things. Even things other than the hub, but it's playing tricks on your ears. A spoke cross, a pedal, a chain link, etc.

But a grinding sound does sound like the hub might have a problem. Some questions;

1. Do you have the brake side cone tightened to the reaction arm via the large nut that is on the outside of the reaction arm really tight?

(That needs to be super tight before reassembly of the hub)

2. Did you remove the spring from inside the clutch?

3. Was there a washer down inside at the bottom of the clutch?

(the bottom/inner most pointy end of the spring will grind and catch the flat surface where it bottoms out inside the clutch if there is no washer in there. With a well greased washer in place, the spring just rotates the washer, so you have two flat and smooth surfaces, the washer and the inner clutch bottom rubbing against one another. Some KY hubs got shipped without washers. )

4. Are there any nasty scars inside the hub shell?

5. Are there any weird scars on the outside of the clutch or the inner surface of the shoes?

(could be mismatched pieces)

6. How much grease are you packing into the clutch-to-shoe and the shoe-to-hub shell area.

(This will sound odd, but I only apply a generous film of grease to the the shoes and the outside of the clutch. I do NOT pack that area like we do with bearings. I have found that packing it full forced the shoes to constantly ride against the inside of the hub shell. In my experience it resulted in a strong rubbing/friction sound. Even when coasting. Not cool. With just a good film in there the shoes are free to "Float" between the outside of the clutch and the inside of the hub shell.)

If you suspect the clutch or shoes are mismatched or damaged, I've seen them sold as a "Kit" for around $8.00 at Amazon.

Wow! Thank you very much! Here are the replies:

"1. Do you have the brake side cone tightened to the reaction arm via the large nut that is on the outside of the reaction arm really tight?"

Yes, I made sure that I tightened it without over-tightening it. After I reassembled it the "right way" the brakes were responsive and perfect.

"2. Did you remove the spring from inside the clutch?

3. Was there a washer down inside at the bottom of the clutch?"

That, I did not do. I took it out and cleaned it and the put grease on the parts. I didn't take the clutch apart.


"4. Are there any nasty scars inside the hub shell?"

It's pretty clean, I also put lubrication on it.



"5. Are there any weird scars on the outside of the clutch or the inner surface of the shoes?

(could be mismatched pieces)"
They both looked in good condition to me.



"6. How much grease are you packing into the clutch-to-shoe and the shoe-to-hub shell area."


Good question, because now I am wondering if I even put any grease on the "clutch to shoe" area. In fact, I can almost say with certainty that I didn't pack any grease between the "clutch to shoe" , so I could make sure that I had the pieces match.

I did put a lot of grease on the outside of the "shoes" and the "clutch.


"Also, I'll ask again if it's a Shimano hub. "

Yes, it's a Shimano CB-E110.

Once again, thank you for all of your help! You are making me want to take it apart right now, I took a short cut that I saw on a video but I am pretty sure that it didn't entail removing that spring in the clutch and it advocated using a LOT of grease but you make sense when you say to put a little film on it. It seems like the clutch needs more servicing and or the brakes and the hub need less grease?

If you think about it, when you hit the brakes you are actually forcing the grease out of the shoe/hub interface. That's why the shoes have those skinny shallow grooves, to retain some of the grease. PACKING the hub just causes the shoes to rub all the time, unwanted, and can actually reduce the braking a ton. We want those shoes to RUB the hub when braking, not rub grease. The grease can serve two good purposes if you use enough but don't over do it. It will prevent the shoes from rattling around on bumpy roads and it prevents all the guts from ever rusting.

Hmmm. Everything sounds kosher.

Is the noise only when pedaling or only when coasting or only when braking or all the time?

Gimmie a better description of the off-centeredness thing that you described. I wanna tackle this.

Once, a long time ago I had a new hub that made a nasty metallic howling under heavy braking, and the brakes were too bitey, with very little modulation capabilities. I Took it apart, cleaned it spotless, couldn't identify any problems, so I reassembled it with my preferred grease. The squealing howl was still there. LOUD. And if I applied the brakes very firmly and abruptly it made a nasty single CLANK before the howl began. It sounded like something was actually breaking. I took it apart again and checked the hub for cracks and extra closely examined every part and then did a dry assembly. Everything fit perfectly and I knew my assembly was correct because I've only done this 37 million times. With the hub bone dry it spun perfectly in my hands and the brakes worked OK other than sounding dry. So it was "Functioning Properly". I took it apart, cleaned, greased and assembled. On the bike it made the howl and it was louder than ever. I pulled into the garage and parked it and had a long think. The only thing I could come up with was that it was possible that the outside of the shoes weren't cast to the exact perfect arc to mate with the hub. They would only need to be off by a little bit for them to attempt to BITE the hub instead of RUB the hub. Or they had a slightly too sharp edge. Neither of which you'd notice while examining them. So I figured they need to be broken in. I came up with the genius plan to expose them to a LOT of LONG but LIGHT to MEDIUM braking forces. So back and forth I went on my street, from top speed to full stop, repeat, repeat, repeat. Firm braking, but not hard enough to make the squeal. After about six or seven passes, something just felt smoother in the pedals. You know what I mean. It just felt "Normal" like it should feel. So I made a sprint and let 'er rip and the problem was 100% gone. I was stoked. All I can figure is that my possible theory was possibly correct. Two (different) metals being forced against each other and being exposed to massive friction need to mate one another well. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

"Is the noise only when pedaling or only when coasting or only when braking or all the time?

Gimmie a better description of the offecenteredness thing that you described. I wanna tackle this."

The noise occurs when pedaling or coasting but disappears when braking.

The "offcenteredness" had the brake side tightening to the frame with only one turn and the sprocket side tightening to the frame with multiple turns. I used another Beach Cruise coaster brake setup as a guide to make this one more equal and flush for lack of a better term. After I did that, the brakes worked great.

Still not getting it.

Are the dropouts spaced wider than the hubs locknuts?

What did you adjust to change things.

Imagine the coaster brake a few if not 5+ centimeters to the right on this picture. I adjusted the brake side to make it more equal. It literally took me only 3 turns to tighten it o the brake side. If you look at the picture, imagine the brake and lock nut at least 1/2 the distance to the end of where that brake and nut is situated.