How to Convert a Coaster Brake to Freewheel

Рет қаралды 3,717

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 22

@thebicyclesafaris Ай бұрын

My kid just started using a pedal bike for the first time today. She is so experienced on the strider bike that she can go pretty fast. When she accidentally engaged the coaster brake she almost wiped out. This video has saved my family a great deal of road rash. I would be thrilled to send the $30 I was about to spend on Woom's freewheel, to you or a charity of your choice.

@Cycling_Instructor Ай бұрын

You could if your offer is still good, on meetup.com is the group Bikeways for Fremont. A lot of my volunteers are members of that group. They have a funding link. Thank you for your offer.

@briancody2000 Ай бұрын

Brother, thank you. This was such a big help. I thought all you had to do was take the arm off. At least that's what they told us when we were kids..never knew about bending the tabs down.. Awesome.Thanks again💪🙏

@Cycling_Instructor Ай бұрын

The brake arm is fixed with high torque which is a problem. If you did get it off, you would want to replace it with a similar width washer. Or you could cut it off, it would probably use up one cutting wheel, or a hack saw blade. That's why I made this video. BTW, I didn't like existing videos of the same subject.

@ollyh9169 2 ай бұрын

I don’t know why the government tells bike manufacturers they have to install coaster brakes on kids bikes they’re so counterintuitive and slow down your child figuring out how to ride a bike. I’ll be disabling my son’s coaster brake and installing a hand brake tomorrow, thank you!!

@Psp-id7uw 2 ай бұрын

Small hands can't squeeze hand brakes

@Anonymous_Rhinoceros Ай бұрын

We just bought a bike for our 5 year old that we thought would be free wheel because it has hand brakes. Nope, it's coaster brake too. We already know he can squeeze hand brakes (he rides a little electric motorcycle like a champ) so this other guy's concerns are not relevant.

@brianreeds5380 Ай бұрын

So in summary, you found one 5 yr old child that can squeeze a hand brake & thus applied that ability to all bike riding children of all sizes & ages on planet earth, declaring the concern moot due to your huge sample size. F in brilliant.

@Cycling_Instructor Ай бұрын

With children you will allow them to ride in age appropriate areas and locations. That's your role as parent. Hand brakes come in child sizes, and better brake levers have a set screw to reduce the gap. Cheap brakes use cheap cables, housing, and poorly routed cables that add friction and make it difficult to squeeze the brake lever. What is the solution? Oddly enough, John Forester figured this out. Even with cheap brakes, you can increase the ease of use by replacing cheap cable with stainless steel cable, and replacing unsleeved brake housing with slippery brake housing. Improving the cable routing so that it is straighter is important. The result is that even cheap brakes with slippery cable housing greatly eases small hands braking.

@Bertram-s6x 2 ай бұрын

In Europe these things are on every dang bike

@cubanomexicano2 Ай бұрын

I imagine you still need to secure the coaster break lever to the frame ?

@thebicyclesafaris Ай бұрын

I reattached the lever arm after performing this operation, and it all works flawlessly.

@Cycling_Instructor Ай бұрын

Yes mostly bc the arm is fixed with a lot of torque. If it was easy to unscrew I would. It's not when I tried so I gave up. You don't want to spend too much time on it.

@Psp-id7uw 2 ай бұрын

Just removing the brackets from coaster arm turns it into freewheel right

@Cycling_Instructor Ай бұрын

Yes it does until it gets jammed or if a finger or toe gets caught in it. It becomes a painful lesson in lacerations or injury. I don't think it is worth the risk.