Beach Cruiser Front Brakes-trying to find one that fits well

[(Ian)]

There's a lot of space between the fork of my Micargi GX Rover and the rim. Doesn't have V-brake tongs, or whatever you'd call those things. So I've been looking at Tektro products, specifically these two:

http://www.tektro.com/02products/06sb.php

But I can't decide which one, if either, would work well for my bike. Ultimately I'd like disk brakes but I just don't have the finances to get those right now.

If there are any other brands that make decent quality, inexpensive brakes that work well with the wide tires of a beach cruiser let me know. Thanks!

 

[Al.Fisherman]

This is what I used on my cruiser...

 

[(Ian)]

I'm not sure but my tires seem a lot fatter than that. That might be about the same distance from fork crotch (that the word for it?) to rim though.

 

[Al.Fisherman]

I have a 2" tire with 1/4" clearence on either side.

 

[seth.brazell]

in the same boat

I'm getting a cruiser that's stocked with a coaster break and I've read awful things about those so I'm looking for a good front break that will fit around fenders. Any suggestions?

 

[(Ian)]

Personally, I would suggest removing the front fender, since it could come dislodged and send you flying end over. Plus it'll be harder getting a front brake on there. Actually, I noticed that when I removed my front fender it opened up a hole to mount my brake in.

 

[(Ian)]

Here's my front fork/wheel.

 

[Irish John]

There's a lot of space between the fork of my Micargi GX Rover and the rim. Doesn't have V-brake tongs, or whatever you'd call those things. So I've been looking at Tektro products, specifically these two:

http://www.tektro.com/02products/06sb.php

But I can't decide which one, if either, would work well for my bike. Ultimately I'd like disk brakes but I just don't have the finances to get those right now.

If there are any other brands that make decent quality, inexpensive brakes that work well with the wide tires of a beach cruiser let me know. Thanks!

There are no brake bosses on the front forks of the Rover GX in the USA so your options are limited to:
1. a single bolt caliper brake which is a very poor quallity brake
2. a front hub with a drum brake
In aus the bikes have front V-brakes which helps but having tried to build a cheaper model using the Touch 7 spd (very similar except it has twin V-brakes) I have found the overall quality of the Micargi just appalling. On the two I built the fenders broke off very quickly - the brackets snapped off where they attach to the fender. The derailleurs were cheap and nasty and the freewheel were the absolute lowest quality you can get. The steel in the frames was soft and prone to tearing & cracking. My opinion is that to make your Rover GX into a good bike is to cast pearls after swine or to throw good money after bad. It really pays to stick to mid-range bikes and keep clear of the really low-range because everything comes back in your face.
Another thing about all Micargis is that the drop-outs are 2mm thinner than they are on mid range bikes and they are prone to deflection when you tighten the axle nuts really hard which you need to do on a motored bike. To make Micargis better at source would probably cost very little. I can tell you that the profit range on them - i.e. the difference between wholesale and recommended retail price is quite a lot so they are profitable to sell.
I had hopes of using them to create a lower priced motored bike I could sell but I have abandoned those after experiencing the ramifications. Cheap bikes aren't really cheap - very soon they are more expensive than a quality bike. You could buy a set of springers with V-brake bosses as per MotoMagz's Schwinn Jaguar and put a mid range set of Tektra brakes on it with long brake arms. Low range brakes should be avoided.