Coaster brake

gtvlusso

Anyone using one?

Whats it like......?! Reliable, useable, issues?

t4tomo

Is there an old fashioned tandem forum you can repost that on?

rolf_f

435 million Dutch cyclists can't be wrong*

*I may have made up the number but the principle stands! I thought they were OK but I've not tried one on a 25% decent.....

Agent57

They're blooming annoying when you want to get your pedal in position.

SimonAH

Work of Satan.

Early childhood in the USA, all kid's bikes had 'em. Horrible.

rick_chasey

Once got fined by an officious policeman for only having a coaster brake.

Cost me £50.

Also fined me £30 for only having a dynamo light.

F*cker.

JamesB5446

Agent57 wrote:

They're blooming annoying when you want to get your pedal in position.

This.

I ride a Dutchie to work/Tesco/town. It's a bit of a pain. Might swap it out at some point.

notsoblue

Rick Chasey wrote:

Once got fined by an officious policeman for only having a coaster brake.

Cost me £50.

Also fined me £30 for only having a dynamo light.

F*cker.

WTF? Why?!

rick_chasey

notsoblue wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Once got fined by an officious policeman for only having a coaster brake.

Cost me £50.

Also fined me £30 for only having a dynamo light.

F*cker.

WTF? Why?!

Must have two brakes.

Must have a light that has its own power source rather than dynamo.

Given it was 9pm, I was on my mum's Dutch bike, pootling to my then GF's place...

Was quite p!ssed off.

My reaction probably didn't help.

UndercoverElephant

Wow, Rick - he must have really disliked you.

I would imagine that my dynamo light is far more legal than most people's, given that it's road-legal in Germany, in fact, any European certification is legal in the rest of Europe.

Certainly more legal than the Hong Kong specials.

Big_Paul

Have a coaster on my hybrid in addition to a v-brake on the rear, it was bloody fierce at the start now after 500 miles it's bedded in, it's not particularly effective though, and it makes positioning your pedals a PITA.

Only time it was reallly useful was coming down a 1 in 10 hill in the worst rain Belfast had seen in years, then the V-brakes weren't great and the additional coaster brake made the difference.

The missus has one on her Kona, she fell off because of it and hasn't sat on the bike since.

rolf_f

Big_Paul wrote:

Have a coaster on my hybrid in addition to a v-brake on the rear, it was bloody fierce at the start now after 500 miles it's bedded in, it's not particularly effective though, and it makes positioning your pedals a PITA.

Surely the pedal positioning issue is only a problem if the coaster is your only brake. I never had a problem with Dutch hire bikes in this respect.

veronese68

Rick Chasey wrote:

My reaction probably didn't help.

This almost certainly didn't help. Not good to goad them. I'm usually very polite if stopped and it usually works. Unless they are plainly in the wrong. I was once asked if I always drove like a count* by a policeman that stopped me. I politely explained what I was doing and why, then I asked him to repeat what he'd said. He immediately apologised and started backtracking. I ripped him to pieces. The wpc with him had walked off when he opened his mouth. When I started having a go at him she was killing herself laughing.

* or something like that

UndercoverElephant

Veronese68 wrote:

I was once asked if I always drove like a count by a policeman that stopped me.

Waan, ah ah ah!

Big_Paul

Rolf F wrote:

Big_Paul wrote:

Have a coaster on my hybrid in addition to a v-brake on the rear, it was bloody fierce at the start now after 500 miles it's bedded in, it's not particularly effective though, and it makes positioning your pedals a PITA.

Surely the pedal positioning issue is only a problem if the coaster is your only brake. I never had a problem with Dutch hire bikes in this respect.

Just means if you come to a halt with your feet in a bad position to restart, you have to lift the rear to assume the right one, more of an annoyance than anything else. I commute by SS these days so it can be a bit odd riding the bike with the coaster.

veronese68

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

I was once asked if I always drove like a count by a policeman that stopped me.

Waan, ah ah ah!

How I loved that car...

rolf_f

Big_Paul wrote:

Just means if you come to a halt with your feet in a bad position to restart, you have to lift the rear to assume the right one, more of an annoyance than anything else. I commute by SS these days so it can be a bit odd riding the bike with the coaster.

Oh I appreciate that bit - my point was that if you have rim brake, you can release the coaster brake with your feet in the right position and use the rim brake for the final foot or so before you stop.

nicklouse

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Wow, Rick - he must have really disliked you.

I would imagine that my dynamo light is far more legal than most people's, given that it's road-legal in Germany, in fact, any European certification is legal in the rest of Europe.

Certainly more legal than the Hong Kong specials.

in Germany the rear dynamo lights also have a battery so that they are always on.

my views on coaster brakes. the work of the devil just after Toe straps.

they can work very well. I have left many a skid mark with the bikes i serviced.

veronese68

nicklouse wrote:

they can work very well. I have left many a skid mark with the bikes i serviced.

I find I do that if the brakes don't work. :shock:

Big_Paul

Rolf F wrote:

Big_Paul wrote:

Just means if you come to a halt with your feet in a bad position to restart, you have to lift the rear to assume the right one, more of an annoyance than anything else. I commute by SS these days so it can be a bit odd riding the bike with the coaster.

Oh I appreciate that bit - my point was that if you have rim brake, you can release the coaster brake with your feet in the right position and use the rim brake for the final foot or so before you stop.

To be honest, the rim brake is more effective, the coaster has steadily became less effective, useful for gentle stops as it's a fine line between gentle braking and wheel lock.

wgwarburton

Rick Chasey wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Once got fined by an officious policeman for only having a coaster brake.

Cost me £50.

Also fined me £30 for only having a dynamo light.

F*cker.

WTF? Why?!

Must have two brakes.

True. Can't really argue with that one.

Must have a light that has its own power source rather than dynamo.

That never used to be the case and I'm not aware of a change... From the CTC website:
Dynamos
Dynamo powered lights are legal even though they go out when you stop. That’s allowed so long as you stop on the left. Usually it’s much safer to stay where you are (e.g. in a stationary queue with left-turning traffic filtering up your inside), since most cars do stop for red traffic lights and those that don’t are unlikely to pay more heed to a bike lamp!

Lighting regulations: http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4071

...don't think that should have stuck... I'm assuming you were in the UK.

Given it was 9pm, I was on my mum's Dutch bike, pootling to my then GF's place...

Was quite p!ssed off.

My reaction probably didn't help.

Ah. Still, bit unprofessional on his part.

Cheers,
W.

t4tomo

Rick Chasey wrote:

Once got fined by an officious policeman for only having a coaster brake.

Cost me £50.

Also fined me £30 for only having a dynamo light.

F*cker.

This probably explains your "stickler for the rules" moderator style now. Clearly deeply traumatised by the experience. he should have done you for lack of pedal reflectors too.

Coasters or stictly speaking a drag / drum brake are/were good as a 3rd brake on a tandem for long alpine descents where using rim brakes would overheat the rim and risk a blow-out. They are usuually cable operated rather than "pedal back" though. However discs are now a better solution to that problem. Useless for anything else.

JamesB5446

Big_Paul wrote:

Just means if you come to a halt with your feet in a bad position to restart, you have to lift the rear to assume the right one, more of an annoyance than anything else. I commute by SS these days so it can be a bit odd riding the bike with the coaster.

On a Dutch town bike with panniers on lifting the back end is pretty much impossible without getting off it.

rick_chasey

Veronese68 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

My reaction probably didn't help.

This almost certainly didn't help. Not good to goad them. I'm usually very polite if stopped and it usually works. Unless they are plainly in the wrong. I was once asked if I always drove like a count* by a policeman that stopped me. I politely explained what I was doing and why, then I asked him to repeat what he'd said. He immediately apologised and started backtracking. I ripped him to pieces. The wpc with him had walked off when he opened his mouth. When I started having a go at him she was killing herself laughing.

* or something like that

Yeah. Wasn't like I swore or anything.

It was more "really? " "do you not have better things to do? It's 9pm and we're the only people on this stretch of lit road for the next km."

But yeah. What's more irritating is my mum had ridden that bike around Cambridge for about 20 years and has never been stopped for anything.