Brakes Coaster Brakes - New Build at a loss on what to do.

[PhoobarID]

Hi, PhoobarID

You wrote that the coaster brake is useless 'with the engine running.'

What was happening was that the drive chain came off about a week ago. After that...any time I would attempt to engage the brakes...the pedals would kick themselves forward with enough force (just like a mule kicking you) where my feet would not be able to stay on the pedals. Even yesterday...I would engage the hand brakes and it would do the same thing as I was trying to brake. It was bad enough where I couldn't safely ride.

As for those telling me that taking the pads out was a bad idea...I've had the question up for at least a week on two different websites and no one would give me any type of an answer about how to solve the issue. That is until I talked to the mechanic at the bike shop and he told me to remove the pads to solve the issue.

It maybe wrong or right...but at least he gave me an answer. I appreciate all the help...but telling me it was a bad idea is actually giving me no help at all.

 

[Chalo]

By the same token, just because we have failed to correctly identify what's wrong with your bike does not mean that we don't know with some certainty that there are ways you can mess it up further. That isn't "no help" if it saves you from damaging your bike.

If your coaster hub has a return spring for the shuttle (barrel shaped ring with a coarse thead on the inside), then it might just work fine without brake shoes. If it doesn't have this part, then when the shuttle backs off the driver there will be nothing to help it back on when you pedal forward. At that point you'll be lucky if the drivetrain just freewheels and nothing else happens, because in fact there will be a large chunk of hard steel floating free in the gap between fixed and rotating parts.

If I understand correctly, you hadn't until now even bothered to open up your coaster hub and make sure everything was in order. And now having done so and having found a problem inside, rather than assembling it correctly and seeing whether that works for you, you're leaving critical parts out as a first attempt to fix it?

Hmm.

Chalo

 

[BentTooner]

Wow, interesting!

So, do you think something got screwed up in the coaster mechanism and that's what caused the drive chain to come off? Or maybe the other way around?

And then, maybe, after that, ANY time the coaster worm gear was getting activated, it was hanging up and causing the kick?

Sorry if that's not helpful. I'm just trying to visualize what's up. If the brake pads were somehow tweaked, maybe they could cause the kick... By taking them out, you remove them from the equation.

If taking out the brake pads solved the problem, I wonder if you could show the old pads to the bike mechanic and he might see something?? Or, maybe you could compare them to new pads. Or, if you're brave, put in new pads and see what happens.

Anyway, thanks for the follow up info and good luck!

 

[Big Red]

Brakes

The weight distribution on a bicycle makes a front wheel skid all but impossible except on wet or loose surfaces. I have locked the front brake and recovered front wheel traction on my 1100cc motorcycle; that's a different game altogether. The moto has a longer wheelbase and a much lower center of gravity, as well as much higher mass. The rear brake becomes more important in those conditions.

On a bicycle with a significantly heavy trailer, or a chopper bicycle with long front forks, or a long wheelbase bicycle like a tandem, the rear brake also becomes more important than on a normal bike.

On a normal single bicycle on dry pavement, the choice is between pitching you over the bars (which most brakes do not have the power for if you put up a fight), and simply slowing down. You can't skid the front wheel because of the forward weight shift.

Chalo

Hey chalo,
You're right about the brakes on a bike with two seperate levers for the brakes, But this discussion was started about adjusting the brakes on a dual pull system. With two levers if you're on a wet or loose surface you can let up on the front brake. If you have a dual pull lever you don't have that option. If, as you say, 70% of the braking should be in front, then what happens when the car turns right in front of you and the street IS wet or dirty. Do you get off, re-adjust your dual pull brakes real quick before you hit the car? You don't always have a choice to wait for a "clean" spot in the road to hit your brakes. Thats the reason, ON DUAL PULL ONLY, you can't put 70% of the stopping power on the front. You have an option if you have a lever for each brake. No option with the dual pull. In a perfect world the streets would always be dry and clean, but I live in San Jose.
Thanks,
Big Red.
.