roughrider504

I am intrested to put a coaster brake system on my 10speed. My brakes are not good at all. I have a parts bike with a coaster, so can I keep my multi speed, or shall I have to make it a 2-speed? [one rear gear and 2 front] and if I have to 2spd it will the gear from the cruiser [the parts bike is a cruiser] work on it? I love the look of no brakes, no levers, etc., and the ease of use of a coaster Thanks in advance for any help!

squeakywheel

Does your bike have horizontal or vertical dropouts?

If you have horizontal dropouts, you can use an internal geared hub with coaster brake. Most internal gear rear hubs (i.e. planetary gear systems) offer a coaster brake as an option. Shimano offers an 8 speed hub. SRAM offers a 7 speed hub.

roughrider504

err. . . umm not to be newbieish. .but whats the diffrence?

randya

You need horizontal dropouts to adjust the chain tension on an internal hub bike.

squeakywheel

Dropouts are the part of the frame where the rear axel fits. If the slot where the axel mounts is horizontal, you can slide the axel forwards and backwards. That adjusts the chain tension.

Most modern mountain bikes do not have this feature. The axel cannot be adjusted forwards and backwards. That's because the rear derailleur keeps the chain tight. No need to adjust the chain tension with movement of the rear axel.

Rear wheel hub coaster brakes require that when you rotate the pedals backwards, the chain applies a backwards force on the hub. If you have a rear derailleur, the spring loaded chain tensioner absorbs your backwards force. So, coaster brakes are not compatible with deraileur gear systems.

You can buy a rear hub that has internal gears. These are planetary gears like in your automatic car transmision. Most manufacturers of internal gear hubs provide a coaster brake as an option. If you want multiple gears and a coaster brake, you should buy an internal gear rear hub. You then pay someone to build a rear wheel around that hub. Actually, you want to just go to your LBS, order the rear hub from them, and have them build the wheel around the hub.

All of this advice is useless to you if your bike does not allow chain tension adjustment by moving the rear axel. That means the dropouts allow horizontal movement of the axel.

roughrider504

ok, thanks for the info! but with my bike it drops out the bottom. . so I guess it wont work

squeakywheel

Leave your existing bike as is. Hit the garage sale circuit this spring. Old bikes are the most productive hunting grounds for horizontal dropouts.

roughrider504

yep, this sunday [monday is trash day] I am going to go ride around, to look for a frame.

CBBaron

You will not be able to have a derailer in a drive train with a coaster brake. So you are limited to internally gear hubs with coaster brakes to have a multispeed drive train with coaster brake. However you maybe able to have a hub brake and definately a disc brake with a derailer.
If you just want to improve your braking look first at replacing your brakes with better quality components. This is likely to be cheaper than a whole new bike which is the direction you are heading. Even just replacing the brake pads and cables may provide the improvement you are looking for.
Craig

slagjumper

There are two older variety of "kickback" 2 speeds. The yellow striped hubs have a lower then the chain gearing and the blue stripes are higher.

Look for these in old Schwinn Cruisers.

But these systems add a lot of friction. So I'd stay with the hand brakes if you want an easier ride.

FlatTop

Some older Sturmey-Archer and Shimano 3-speed hubs have coaster brakes; You might find one of those during your frame search. Could make for an easy gears/coaster brake experiment.

grolby

Replacing the brake pads, components and levers are absolutely the best possible way to improve braking on older bicycles. Generally speaking, there is no good reason to replace the actual brakes, which are almost always perfectly adequate. Major improvements have been made in cables, brake levers and brake pads, but the ubiquitous centerpulls of the "ten-speed" era (and the vast majority of what few sidepulls you might find in this time period) are actually rather good brakes.

I would also advise against a coaster brake if you're looking for better braking - one hallmark of coaster brakes is that they are actually rather poor, for a number of reasons. They're fine for just cruising around at a slow pace, but really inadequate for anything more. If you want a fun, clean-looking bike, have fun with it! Definitely see what you can find. I do have some nostalgia for the days of riding a bike with a coaster brake. No gears and no brake levers to worry about. Ah, those were the days...

roughrider504

few? most of the vintages bikes I see have sidepulls. . but my suteki has centerpulls. it stops great. I cant wait to fix the front wheel. Thanks for all the advice!

ken cummings

All bikes have coaster brakes ala Fred Flintstone. When my brakes failed due to heavy rain during a 300K brevet I survived a long steep hill by having one foot down on the pavement.

LWaB

Just as a matter of interest, Sachs (now bought by SRAM) used to produce a couple of hybrid hub/derailleur systems (about 30 years ago, prior to 3x7 or DualDrive). One of them used a two speed derailleur system grafted to a three speed coaster hub. It had a unique derailleur that resisted backpedalling chain tension.

huhenio

Do you live in new orleans? ...

Perhaps you would like to change to singlespeed and coaster brake ... cleanest setup in town.