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Ah, I forgot to reply to the comment on the brakes and handlebar crowding:
Good point, I know weight shifts forward during breaking and the rear wheel loses a lot of traction. When I was much younger, I had a bike with only a rear coaster brake. My dad and I would make a game, I'd get the bike going as fast as possible and then slam on the brakes to make the longest skid mark possible. They got pretty long, like over 25 feet. And that was on concrete!
My rationale behind wanting to have only the rear brake is that, because the dirt roads I'll be riding on will have poor traction, it will be a lot easier for the front wheel to lock up, leading to a loss of control. But yeah, I think I'll just play with the arrangement until I get something that works, so I can keep both brakes.