Does it rain much in NC? If you get a fair share of the wet stuff I'd suggest that there's much to be said for the coaster brake at the rear and a rim brake on the front.

From my own commuting by bike I found that the front wheel and particularly the braking faces of the rim did not get overly gritty even in the wet stuff. But the REAR ! ! ! !.... I swore that a sand truck had dumped on me when I wasn't watching on more than a few occasions. And this was just from some street and some paved walking and riding paths. And in fact I went over to disc brakes when the prices became tolerable in the blink of an eye for this reason.

So perhaps instead of disabling the coaster it may be better to ask what can be done to make it a little, not a lot, more powerful instead. A good performing and easily modulated coaster brake which can deliver all the back wheel will tolerate for braking in the wet could be a wonderful thing.

You've done a HUGE improvement already by going with a good front brake. Even in the wet we get a good 60 to 70% of our braking from the front. And more than that in the dry. Just need to learn to modulate the pressure so as to not shock the contact patch in the wet.... well... same for the dry too. But in the dry the transition can be a lot faster obviously as long as they are still not a sudden clutching of the lever.

remove the traction strut arm..?


Ger another rear wheel Sturmey Archer hub? .. or Shimano ... they go to 11..








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I may be wrong but doesn't it need that for the internal hub shifting as well?

Depends of the hub's design. Most all IGHs I have dealt with use the axle to deal with the anti reaction forces and the brake reaction arm for, well brake forces. Some IGH hubs have the backing plate/brake shoe end cone (that is what the reaction arm is attached to) independent of the axle. Andy

Only Rohoiff *, everyone else uses an axle with a with an anti rotation Axle tab ... for the internal gears counter- rotation forces..


* there is a , lot of internal torque with double reduction gear ...








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Have you ever disassembled a coaster brake hub? Or rather, have you ever tried to reassemble one? I did it once, and vowed to never open one of 'em again. I still don't know how I got it all back together.

I would just leave it alone. Go ahead and add a caliper, but leave the hub alone.

You did not mention the brand of hub, but if it is a Sturmey Archer, the coaster brake can be deactivated by simply removing the brake shoes. If you want to be able to backpedal, you will need to further disassemble the hub and remove the rear facing pawls from the driver.
I suspect the Shimano 3 speed would have similar possibilities, but that is one model of IGH that I have not thoroughly explored.

Way back, when I went to Schwinn School (1980), they taught us to disassemble & reassemble 3 different 3-speed hubs: Sturrmey-Archer, S-A with coaster brake, and Shimano 3.3.3 with coaster brake. I loved doing that.

A rear caliper brake may not stop better than a coaster brake. If you want to do it so that you can backpedal, then follow the instructions above. If you just want to stop better, don't bother. A front brake plus coaster brake really should be adequate.

And perhaps someone will like the coaster brake wheel , and so why not replace the whole wheel & sell off the one you don't now want ?

I like the new S-A NIG 3 speeds..