(I post this here only because the subject cheap bike is a kid's BMX...)

My wife and I picked up a cheap ($5) Schwinn Aerostar BMX bike at a garage sale recently. It's destined to be my grandson's next bike. It's got a chrome frame, no major scratches, full set of decals and pads, and seems to be cleaning up quite nicely. It has a coaster brake and a completely worthless rear caliper brake. That caliper brake really has me ticked off. Why is it that the CPSC can force Campy to put bumps, curves and ridges on various perfectly good high-end bike components (apparently in the name of safety) but they can't force manufacturers to equip inexpensive bikes with functional brakes? For the time being I will leave the caliper brake off (thankful for the coaster brake), as it will just distract Carmine. I don't have the hand strength to operate that crappy brake. No way he will...

Skip (who usually hangs out on C&V)

If I read this correctly, the problem is that kids do not have the strength to pull on the brake lever. You could improve the braking force by replacing the brake cables with Shimano SIS brake cables and the M-System cable housing. The stainless steel brake cables and the prelubricated outer casing with soft liner for smooth braking performance requires little strength and allows the brakes to release easily.

If the bike is using cheap plastic levers, replace them with aluminium ones. Plastic ones are sloppy and will deform when pressure is applied. Besides it breaks easily in a fall.

If the spring is too strong on the calipers, you could dismantle the calipers from the bike, unhook the spring (the rod that is pushing the caliper apart) and bend them nearer together. When you hook them back it will spring out with less force. Assemble the caliper back on the bike and connect the brake cable.

Your grandson should be able to brake with little effort.

It has a coaster brake. The caliper isn't even necessary.

The bike comes with 2 brakes. He had problems with the caliper brakes.

Well, there are a couple issues. One, to begin with, is that the brake is basically worthless. I doubt it was much more functional when new than it is now. Two, it's got a lever sized for a little person, but has a caliper with something like a 95mm reach. Even if my grandson could overcome the resistance in the system and actually squeeze the lever, he'd be unable to apply much force. Yes, it has a coaster brake, so for at least the time being the caliper brake will not be used.

The more general point I'm trying to make is that back in 1978 the Consumer Product Safety Commission had enough bureaucratic might to force companies like Campagnolo to make insignificant changes to their components which didn't improve their functionality, and which likely didn't make them safer to use either. They were either unable or unwilling to address the poor quality and utility of cheap components like the brake I'm ranting about. I think their resources would have been much better applied in this area.

Maybe the BMX forum wasn't the right place to post this. Other than the fact that the straw which broke this camel's back happened to be attached to a BMX bike, there's really nothing BMX-specific about it. My apologies if my original post confused people about my point.

And I don't know if you read correctly. Or if you don't know what a coaster brake is.

And yea, OP, it was a bit confusing. ****ty calipers have been on bikes like that for ages though. Its just because of the legal ramifications, and having a 'backup' system of stopping.

I know what a coaster brake does....a back pedal brakes. I am a bike mechanic for 25 years. The bike has ****ty caliper brakes, and I'm just trying to help solve his caliper brake problem..

Right, solve it by getting rid of it. Like I said, it isn't necessary when there's already a way to make the back wheel lock up. And then you quoted him, in response to me, saying what the problem "really" was.

His post was more a rant about CPSC allowing crappy parts like this brake onto a bike but flipping out on high end component makers and forcing them to make insignificant changes.

I am with the OP and this has bothered me for quite some time, the only answer I can come up with is that nearly every government or regulatory agency will bow down to anything companies like walmart tell them to.

Thanks. Said much better than I did.

Skip

I watched an unsupervised girl drop her chain at the top of a hill and unwittingly start down, and then the coaster brake was worthless. She didn't have the use of the crappy front caliper brake and took a big fall with injuries into a gully.

I outfitted my kids first bike at 3 years with a coaster in back, caliper up front. He never used the caliper brake for a number of reasons, and I kept close watch when he was riding and made sure the chain kept tension.

His second bike (as a 4 year old) has Avid MTB side-pull brakes with verly little rim clearance, light springs, and the levers adjusted for his little hands. These brakes will grow with him by adjusting the levers outward, and work perfectly.

A coaster brake would work just fine, even with a dropped chain. Just saying.

Uh, no it wouldn't. Sure, it'd work if you could reach back and turn the cog backwards somehow, but without a chain linking the crank to the hub, you're SOL.

Well the two or so times, I was still able to use the coaster brake. I guess I'm just lucky.

Maybe they get around safety requirements by categorizing them as toys not for use on public roads or somesuch? Somewhat along that line of thinking, isn't there usually a fine print sticker on next/magna/whatnots saying, do not ride off road or at night, etc?

Maybe they get away with nonworking parts because its the status quo/ consumer ignorance. -the people who buy that kind of bike don't often realize it's a BSO.

Or it could be a correlation between economic status of persons who can only affort that sort of bike being a low concern since they arent likely to be able to afford to make any legal noise?

How about; people percieve bicycling as an inherently dangerous activity; thus when something goes wrong they don't think to complain?


hmmh, common point in all; CPSC doesnt enforce tighter controls because no one who uses cheap bikes complains in significant numbers
how many does walmart sell, vs how many complain

I'm not sure I buy this one. Haven't people sued McDonalds after they spilled hot McD coffee on themselves? (Or is that just urban legend?) We in American are a litigious bunch. I don't think because an activity is "inherently dangerous" would be much of a barrier to filing a lawsuit. (Not sure if I should add a smiley here or not.)

Skip

The presence of the coaster brake means that the bike is fully compliant with CPSC requirements.

The rear caliper brake began being added as a marketing gesture in the early '80s at the request of bike dealers, who reported that smaller kids, seeing hand brakes on the BMX bikes of older kids, wanted to have hand brakes, too.

The front caliper brake was omitted to avoid the possibility that a kid who didn't understand how to work hand brakes properly would lock up the front brake and go over the handlebars.