How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)

#91

Post by switchbak » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

fransje26 wrote: post #52

switchbak wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I wouldn't want to ride a bike with only rear brakes - or do you also have a front brake with these?

> or do you also have a front brake with these? No, not necessarily. I've been using bikes with only rear brakes for years and years as city bikes, and never had a braking problem. On the other hand, I've borrowed many bikes with conventional rim brakes and invariably had (serious) braking issues because they would be badly adjusted.

I've had cars pull out in front of me, giving me less than a second to stop. A rear brake in that scenario would just skid, and I'd be in a world of hurt. For that matter anything but a pair of high-end brakes would have put me in serious jeopardy.

I agree rim brakes are terrible and typically very hard to set up properly. Also they're really bad in the rain, and especially when the rims can freeze.

Personally I'm a disc brake guy, either hydraulic or mechanical. My road bike's mechanical disc's have only needed an adjustment every few years, and the odd set of pads. I've been a mountain biker for decades, so a preference for disc brakes is understandable. A distant second to that would be a very nice set of V brakes, with the aforementioned problems.

Re: How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)

#92

Post by kazinator » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 6:37 AM UTC

> “Pedal backwards. Really?”

That's a good test for blowing the cover of extraterrestrial imposters posing as human beings.

They don't know about pedaling backwards to stop a bike, because they were never a four-year-old human.

Children's bicycles have coaster brakes. In the USA, a federal law requires them.

Re: How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)

#93

Post by kazinator » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 6:57 AM UTC

Hobadee wrote: post #15

Where is all this love for coaster brakes coming from?! They are, IMHO, one of the worst brakes ever. They have caused me numerous spills and scraped knees (due to the rear wheel locking up and skidding out from under me) and have done the same to my kids. There is virtually no control over them, and they don't allow you to shift your weight around when standing on the pedals to go around sharp corners or off-road. (…

> Where is all this love for coaster brakes coming from?!

Nowhere. They have pretty much disappeared from bikes for adults. Even the bicycle-shaped objects. The article mentions Shimano internal gear hubs with coaster brakes, but I think the popular versions of those hubs have a cable operated hub brake mechanism, not one that is operated by backward pedaling. The principle of operation may be similar, just not of activation.

In the USA, a federal law requires them on sidewalk bikes for small kids.

I believe that the coaster brake is better than any other brake that would be found on a kids' bike that retails for $80 or less. Can you imagine such a bike with disc brakes; what garbage they would be.

As the article says, coaster brakes should be combined with a front brake.

The front wheel provides more stopping power due to weight transfer to the front, and there should be redundant brakes in case one fails.

Maintenance? Most people don't know how to do bike maintenance and don't bother. Coaster brakes don't require maintenance, unless you count rebuild with new grease after 60 years. That's pretty amazing.

Brakes that require maintenance are dangerous in the hands of consumers who are not bike nerds, and who can't afford or don't bother to have their stuff serviced at the LBS.

Re: How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)

#94

Post by reorder9695 » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 8:06 AM UTC

kazinator wrote: post #92

> “Pedal backwards. Really?” That's a good test for blowing the cover of extraterrestrial imposters posing as human beings. They don't know about pedaling backwards to stop a bike, because they were never a four-year-old human. Children's bicycles have coaster brakes. In the USA, a federal law requires them.

As someone from outside the US, I had only heard of coaster brakes from this article. As a child all my bikes had rim brakes and now my bike has hydraulic discs, coaster breaks seem very strange to me.

Re: How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)

#95

Post by kazinator » Fri, Sep 04, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

reorder9695 wrote: post #94

kazinator wrote: post #92

> “Pedal backwards. Really?” That's a good test for blowing the cover of extraterrestrial imposters posing as human beings. They don't know about pedaling backwards to stop a bike, because they were never a four-year-old human. Children's bicycles have coaster brakes. In the USA, a federal law requires them.

As someone from outside the US, I had only heard of coaster brakes from this article. As a child all my bikes had rim brakes and now my bike has hydraulic discs, coaster breaks seem very strange to me.

Had them in Europe in the 1970's on kids' tricycles.

I remember leaving rubber marks on the pavement by locking these things up hard while turning the steering.