Having a pretty coaster bike is one thing...having a pretty coaster bike that doesn't stop when it needs to is another.

I'm all for messing up clean lines in favour to safety.

As a kid on a bmx bike, i never had a handbrake - only a coaster brake period. We skid all over the place on our bikes and the coaster brake never just stopped working. I agree that bike should be left alone.

^Exactly what I was thinking...

Having crashed my bike because the perfect coaster brake wasn't up to stopping me I am now a big fan of adding a front brake to greatly shorten stopping distances.

^ I tend to agree.
Clean lines are nice, but this bike isn't going
for the brakeless fixed gear thing--it's a coaster
townie. A totally different and very useful and cool
kind of bike, with brakes.

With 78 gear inches I could spin that bike up to about 30 mph...

A coaster brake isn't gonna provide enough braking or control at that kind of speed.

Maybe you could (no disrespect meant), but if his wife is just using it for slower cruises around town, I think a coaster brake is plenty safe. So yeah, if she plans on flying down hills and sprinting around the neighborhood on her townie, I'd say forget the lines and add the brake.

Oh, and more pictures, I love these townies!

Mad Wagon cruiser (SS)
Cetma front rack
I cleaned it up and added the rack and some XT brakes.
Very fun and comfortable to ride.

Dirty as hell during the winter months....

there are too many faux townies. i demand upright bars and fenders!

Here here. Do we have a working definition of townie as it applies to this thread? Some of these are just... bikes.

a "townie" is basically what peewee herman rides in his "big adventure"... if you dont got what peewee's got then get the **** outta here!

i think a beater is not the same as a townie bike. it's utilitarian but classy. you can haul groceries but still look good on it while wearing a nice blazer on the way to a dinner date.

Townie Bike= A bike for cruising around the town. Not for racing, not for single track, not for touring, not for centuries. A bike where comfort and utility are key features. A bike ridden upright, often with porteur style bars, because comfort and a nice view of the world around you are more important than speed. A bike one wouldn't be ashamed to mount a sprung leather saddle on. I bike that, while it may be light, doesn't need you to count grams. I like that my townie handles like a track bike when I want it to, but still feels just like the Rudge I road as a kid and restored after college. Upright bars, sprung saddle, a head looking around at the world as opposed to down at the pavement. In the end it is as simple as this. A townie bike should please the inner paper boy in you.

Well said, that about sums it up. Now back to pictures...

Personally i'm going with no springs, but still an antique saddle none the less. My wheels are track , my bike is light, and yet it rides upright. My townie is brakeless and will remain that way until I'm satisifed with a brake lever for my chopped cruiser bars. I don't do "beater" and I always keep my bikes clean. My townie is an alternative ride to my IRO track bike, while still having track elements and quality parts. Its a way to have fenders and still be cool for those rainy days.. As far as baskets go, i want this: https://www.antbikemike.com/images/Ba...ybasketbig.jpg from antbikes.

thats a classy basket.

i demand a purging of all beater bikes. i will not stand to have such beautiful bikes have their reputations sullied by these rust-mongering abominations.

These not mine. just wanted to show my favorite bikes from Antbikes and a fender i like.







this one is a fastboy fenders.

start a new thread and state the requirements for posting pics.

**** that. i'm busy.

Q: has anyone used these sparrow bars from soma? i'm thinking they'd be cool on a townie, maybe give a low roadster kind of look. I'd like to see them on a bike.

Not my bike, but I built it and took the pics:













I've since replaced the Sakae cranks with Shimanos, the old "Schwinn-approved" brake lever with a more modern yet classy MTB lever, and added an orange Knog Frog rear blinker to the seatpost.

^pimp!^
riding fast is for ***** with small wee wees..........

Here's mine.
Has a rear rack nowadays though.