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Bicycle Coaster Brakes

("back-pedalling brakes", "foot brakes")

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Sheldon Brown photo
by Sheldon "Feet" Brown
Revised by John Allen
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Coaster Brakes

A coaster brake is a special rear hub for a bicycle, which performs two functions:

Coaster brakes were invented in the 1890s, and have continued to be popular in some areas to this day.

While the classic, simple coaster brake is a single-speed, an internal-gear hub may include a coaster brake. This page covers one-speed coaster brakes, and two-speeds which are shifted by centrifugal weights or kicking back on the pedals -- some are brakeless. Our internal-gear-hub page covers hubs with three or more speeds, including some with coaster brakes.

Pros and Cons

Pro: Con:
Coaster brakes work just as well in the rain as they do in dry conditions.

Coaster brakes generally require less maintenance than any other type of brake.

There are no cables running from the handlebars, giving a tidy and simple appearance.

The lack of cables with a single-speed or kickback two-speed coaster brake is particularly advantageous for folding or take-apart bikes.

Coaster brakes can be a good choice for handicapped riders who lack sufficient hand strength, or for arm amputees.

Coaster brakes are usually quite narrow, fit in 110-114 mm spacing, though they can be fitted to frames with wider spacing by adding washers along the axle.

An internal-gear hub can include a coaster brake, providing both gearing and rear-wheel braking.

A bicycle with a coaster brake can coast backward with stationary cranks (useful in acrobatic cycling).

Coaster brakes make it awkward to get started, and prevent the use of clip-in pedals or toe clips and straps, since there's no easy way to rotate the pedals to starting position.

Coaster brakes often cause skidding, resulting in excessive tire wear.

When coaster brakes fail (usually the result of chain breakage or derailment) they fail suddenly and completely.

Coaster brakes are prone to overheating and fading when used in mountainous areas.

A coaster brake inside an internal-gear hub complicates the mechanism and reduces the options for lubrication.

A coaster brake is not compatible with derailer gearing or a chain tensioner.

Too many bikes are equipped with only a coaster brake, so there's no back-up system in the event of brake failure.

To be safe, any bicycle needs a front handbrake and some sort of rear-wheel braking system, which could be a handbrake, coaster brake or fixed gear.

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The Reaction Arm

A wheel consists of rotating parts (tire, rim, spokes, hub shell) and stationary parts (axle, cones.) The braking action of a coaster brake basically consists of creating friction between the rotating and stationary parts.

As the brake is applied, this friction will cause a twisting force to be applied to the axle. The normal axle nuts by themselves can't resist this force, so all coaster brakes have a "reaction arm" which runs below the left chainstay.

The back end of the reaction arm is attached to the left cone of the hub, which is also connected to the brake shoes.

The front end of the reaction arm is clamped to the chainstay, either with a metal brand that wraps around the chainstay, or by a brazed-on fitting underneath the chainstay.

[Note: the metal band in the photo below is only looped loosely around the chainstay, a common error. If the brake is used to hold the bicycle from rolling backward (for example, when stopped facing uphill), the brake arm will rotate upward. Then when the brake is used to slow forward motion, the brake arm will rotate downward again. Repeated motion will loosen the bolt holding the metal band, or the axle nuts, leading to failure. The metal band has multiple holes to fit different-size chainstays. Cinch it tightly around the chainstay -- John Allen]

DESCRIPTION

The attachment of the reaction arm to the chainstay is vitally important. One of the most common causes of coaster-brake malfunction is failure to properly secure the reaction arm after removing and re-installing the wheel.

If the bike is ridden without the reaction arm properly secured, the arm will rotate downward, effectively loosening the left cone. The result will be a shaky wheel, and an increase in the amount of reverse pedal travel required to activate the brake.

The reaction arm is usually the place where the make and model of the hub are embossed.

Tip:

If you come upon a bike that has been ridden this way, you will see the reaction arm out of position, and may be inclined to remove the wheel to adjust it. This is often not only unnecessary, but sometimes nearly impossible!

As the disengaged reaction arm and left cone turn, they screw the left cone outward. This squeezes the forkend hard against the left axle nut. As a result, if you try to unscrew the left axle nut, you may find it impossible to turn because of the pressure of the cone. Bike shops frequently see bikes come in where the left axle nuts have been butchered by unsuccessful attempts to loosen them.

The trick is to treat the cause, not the symptom. Instead of immediately going for the axle nut, use a hammer to rotate the reaction arm back to its proper position. This will often bring everything back to proper adjustment with a minimum of trouble. At the very least, it will ease the binding of the axle nut, and allow you to adjust the bearing cones in the normal manner.

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Disassembly and Rebuilding

Single-speed coaster brakes are pretty simple. To disassemble a coaster-brake hub, all you need to do is to unscrew everything from one end of the axle or the other. All of the parts will then come out of the left side of the hub shell.

Two-speed coaster-brake hubs may shift by means of a "kickback" mechanism which shifts when backpedaling, or automatically by means of centrifugal weights.

The brake mechanism of multi-speed coaster-brake hubs is similar to that of single-speed coaster brakes, but these hubs can be quite complicated. They are covered on this site on the Sturmey-Archer, Sachs/SRAM and Shimano internal-gear hub pages.

Links to parts lists and rebuilding information for almost every coaster-brake model are at the bottom of this page.

Operation-How A Coaster Brake Works

Though there are differences in detail, all coaster brakes are fundamentally similar. Different manufacturers use different names for some of the parts. I'll try to use terminology as generic as possible:

Lubrication

Single-speed coaster brakes are intended to be pretty much packed with grease. There is no part of a coaster brake that can be harmed by grease, so be generous in applying it. You should use a grease with tolerance for high temperatures, such as automotive brake grease, but even so, coaster brakes used in mountainous terrain can "cook" any common grease.

An internal-gear hub with a coaster brake may need more than one type of lubricant. Follow manufacturer's recommendations.

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Adjustment

There's basically only one adjustment to be made on a single-speed coaster brake, the adjustment of the bearing cones. This adjustment can usually be made without even removing the wheel from the bike.

The left cone is attached to the reaction arm (the arm that runs below the left chainstay, and is secured to the chainstay by a clamp of some sort.)

If you loosen both axle nuts, and stick a cone wrench onto the right side cone, or its locknut, you can turn the whole axle. Since the left cone is immobilized by the reaction arm, turning the axle will adjust the cone.

If you get it too tight, the wheel will tend to bind up. Too loose, and the wheel will shake from side to side, and the brake will require a lot of pedal movement to engage. .

English Coaster Brake Adjustment:

Sturmey-Archer SC and most other English coaster brakes adjust differently from other coaster brake hubs. There's a square end on one end of the axle. The right cone is fixed to the axle; the left cone, as usual, is attached to the reaction arm.

To adjust the cones on an English coaster hub, you leave it in the bike, but loosen both axle nuts. Use an adjustable wrench to turn the whole axle, screwing it in or out of the left cone, then re-tighten the axle nuts once the cone adjustment is correct.

Any coaster brake that has a square end on the axle is intended to be adjusted this way.

Chain and Sprockets ("Cogs")

Coaster-brake hubs use a single sprocket and single chainwheel. The chain is held in place by moving the hub's axle forward or backward in the dropout slots until the chain is just barely slack; or a bicycle with vertical dropouts may have an eccentric bottom bracket.. As the chain wears, it lengthens, and it is more likely to fall off. It must be readjusted periodically. A coaster-brake hub cannot use a chain tensioner with a pulley. Detailed instructions about chain adjustment are on our page about derailerless drivetrains.

3-lug sprocketMost newer single-speed coaster brakes use the same 3-splined sprockets as are used on internal-gear hubs. Such sprockets are available in sizes from 14-24 teeth. Changing the sprocket to customize the gearing is often very worthwhile.

These sprockets are held on by a snap ring, which you can pry off with a small flat-blade screwdriver. When you replace the sprocket, it is a good idea to use a hammer and punch to seat the snap ring into its groove so that the sprocket can't accidentally pop off, leaving the brake inoperative! Sprockets available here.

Older coaster brakes used threaded sprockets and lock rings, as with track hubs. Although they are the same in theory, they commonly used different threading, so they are not usually interchangeable with track sprockets. Threaded sprockets for coaster brakes commonly had a radial slot, to make it possible to replace a broken spoke without removing the sprocket.

Note that with a coaster brake, the gear ratio affects both the forward pedaling and the brake operation!

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Information and Diagrams for specific brands/models:

Sutherland's Handbook of Coaster Brake and Internal-Gear Hubs, now hosted on this site, covers many common models.

Note that sometimes these are "private labeled" or there might be "knockoffs" so you might find an unlisted model that is identical to the ones shown.

Axles and axle nuts are generally fairly generic.

Other internal parts are generally not available for purchase, please don't waste our time by asking!

The list below links to information on single-speed and two-speed coaster brakes. Internal-gear coaster-brake hubs with three or more speeds are covered on our internal-gear hub pages.

Single-speed Coaster Brakes:

Two-speed Coaster Brakes:

If you have information/diagrams of other makes/models that you would like to share with others, please send them to us. We prefer scans of 200 DPI or better, or if you mail us the material we can scan it and return it to you.
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Links:

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Thanks to Steve Birmingham and Henry Brunelle for their assistance.

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Articles by Sheldon Brown and Others


Reports of the demise of this Web site are greatly exaggerated! We at sheldonbrown.com thank Harris Cyclery for its support over the years. Harris Cyclery has closed, but we keep going. Keep visiting the site for new and updated articles, and news about possible new affilations.

Copyright © 2005, 2008 Sheldon Brown

Harris Cyclery Home Page

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https://www.sheldonbrown.com/coaster-brakes.html

Last Updated: by John Allen