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It is me or there's no rear brake? Without suspension at the front, this asks for front flips whenever I touch the brakes too hard..

• tyingq 10y ago
  The product description says front disc brake plus rear coaster brake.
• brndnmtthws 10y ago
  90% of your braking 'power' comes from the front brake. Under hard braking in ideal conditions, this is closer to 100%. You can safely remove the rear brake from most bikes. This is a common misconception [1]. The same is true for motorcycles. [1]: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html
  • crazygringo 10y ago
    That is not a misconception at all, at least not for bicycles, and it's highly dangerous to suggest so. Have you ever tried braking while going down a steep hill? (e.g. San Fran hills?) You know, to stay at a safe speed? Front brake will flip you over in an instant, I know because I've done it, even at slow speeds, when my rear brake cable snapped. After a couple tries I walked home, since bicycling without a rear brake was clearly suicidal. And your linked article just talks about the rider flying over the handlebars because the rider isn't "bracing themselves against deceleration" -- whatever that means. I'm talking about the bike itself flipping.
    • Eridrus 10y ago
      Can second this; flipped my bike going down a ramp while I was young; learnt my lesson.
    • Unman 10y ago
      > Front brake will flip you over in an instant, I know because I've done it, even at slow speeds That's because you simply do not know how to ride a bicycle. In such a situation you need to get your weight back behind the saddle and modulate the application of the brake. O.P. is one hundred percent correct that you do not need a rear brake -- and I speak as someone that rode for several years in without one including in SF.
      • dripton 10y ago
        You need a rear brake for two reasons. One is redundancy: if the front brake fails, you want another option, even if it's not quite as good. The other is spreading the braking heat over twice as much surface area on long fast descents. (Some tandems have a third brake for that reason.)
        • Unman 10y ago
          The redundancy point is true. The tandem drum brakes are less to do about heat dissipation than stopping your hands cramp up on a long descent. Often you just actuate the rear drum to provide constant drag on a descent.
          • Unman 10y ago
            For anyone interested, specialist tandem outfitters used to shave off the heat dissipation fins on old-style Arai drum brakes. The point of said brakes was not to dissipate heat, but to stop the tandem. It is true that very old tandems with rim brakes had heat-dissipation problems. http://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cycling/52661-shaving-arai-drum-brake.html http://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cycling/52661-shaving-arai-...
      • crazygringo 10y ago
        I "simply don't know how to ride a bicycle?" That's a big assumption you're making there, buddy. I don't know how your particular weight is distributed on your particular bicycle or what, but you're spreading dangerously wrong ideas. If you're going downhill and a child runs out in the street from between cars and you need to stop, and you're a normal person on a normal bike, you need a rear brake, end of story. If you modulate your front brake to not lock up, that simply means you stop far too slowly, and hit the kid. Even at what seems like otherwise a safe speed, things (like children, or soccer balls) can run out in front of you at the last second and you need to stop suddenly. You absolutely need a rear brake for safety. Just because you could get by without one in most situations doesn't mean you can get by without one in all situations.
    • owenversteeg 10y ago
      My personal strategy for front-wheel braking is to apply as little as possible, and "pump" the brakes like you have to do in a pre-ABS car. You're much less likely to flip.
    • Matthias247 10y ago
      Brakes are not digital - they can be modulated. Front flips happen only to people that are not used to their brake or fully pull the brake lever out of some shock reaction. I'm riding downhill with my bikes, and I can safely do that with front brake only as long as that thing doesn't overhead. Even things like front-only braking on steep stairs is no problem with the correct body position (not over the front wheel) and brake force applied.
      • Eric_WVGG 10y ago
        Yup. Same principle for older pre-anti lock brakes on cars, if you lived in a place with regular snowfall, learning not to lock the brakes was considered a basic part of learning to drive. I have been riding for 15 years without a rear brake and have never come close to going over the front. Not that I would recommend it to other folks, the redundancy argument is valid, but it is not unsafe at all.
    • legodt 10y ago
      Sounds like your brakes had no modulation or you weren't using them safely. Modern disc brakes eliminate the modulation issue. Bike brakes aren't a binary system. You can adjust your touch on the brake levers to apply varying levels of friction against the braking surface to shave off speed.
      • sleavey 10y ago
        Maybe I just don't know what modulation means, but I figure it's when you pump the brakes to prevent skidding. How do disk brakes eliminate the need for it?
        • legodt 10y ago
          HN wouldn't let me reply yesterday so I edited my response into the parent comment. Bike brakes aren't a binary system. You can adjust your touch on the brake levers to apply varying levels of friction against the braking surface to shave off speed. Hope this helps!
    • 7952 10y ago
      People get flipped by the front brake because it is more powerful, they are not used to the stopping power. You have to brace against the handlebars. It is more powerful because as the bike rocks forward the wheel is pushed into the ground and has more friction with the surface. The rear brake will loose grip under braking because it rises up from the ground. Aggressive braking in the rear is more dangerous because the wheel can lock up and skid, which can send you over the handlebars. The back brake tends to be setup to be more relaxed to stop people doing this. Maybe that is why people think it is safer. With a bit of practice you can get much better braking force from a front brake. Try it out on some grass, and see how far you take it before the back wheel starts to rise. You will find that you can stop much faster, which will make you safer. Just try it and see.
    • 21 10y ago
      I never use my back brake, because it's inefficient, and sometimes the back starts sliding. Using only one brake also avoids confusion between them, so you won't by accident slam the front one.
  • fulafel 10y ago
    You want to cover the non-ideal circumstances too. Wet leaves, gravel, snow/ice will make the front wheel slip out from under you if you only have a front brake. (This bike does have a rear brake too, so it's fine) Edit: About winter biking, cables tend to freeze in the winter if you're not meticulous about maintenance. So automatic gears and coaster rear brake are good for this reason too.
    • collyw 10y ago
      Its also a good way to go over the handlebars if you only use a front brake.
      • xapata 10y ago
        Breaking at similar speed on the rear brakes will cause a fishtail and slide rather than brake. I'd rather endo (flip over my handlebars) than ride in front of a car.
        • Groxx 10y ago
          Fishtails are pretty easy to control though. Going over the handlebars, not so much. (though that requires a lot more braking power, to be fair)
        • collyw 10y ago
          Never had that happen to me in over 35 years of riding bikes. I do go over the handlebars occasionally. I have had the front wheel slide from under me a few times as well (my least favorite way of falling). I even ride with a low tread back tyre so I can slide the back wheel around a bit on trails.
          • xapata 10y ago
            Maybe you instinctively apply appropriate pressure using the front brake. If you slam on the rear brake only or simply much harder than the front brake, the rear wheel locks up before coming to a stop. The bike will continue forward with the front wheel rolling and the rear wheel sliding. If there's slight braking on the front wheel, the rear starts sliding around the front, twisting the cyclist.
  • kyberias 10y ago
    That link doesn't provide any explanation why front wheel breaking is superior. Only states that it is superior. Why is it?
    • pja 10y ago
      It’s a consequence of the geometry of a pushbike: The centre of gravity of bike + rider is above the point about which the bike will rotate when braking (The front axle). This means that any braking load will put a torque on the bike that pushes down on the front wheel & lifts the back wheel up. This places a limit on how hard you can brake with the rear brake, i.e. the point at which the upward torque reduces the friction between the rear wheel and the road so that no greater braking force can be applied - at this point the wheel locks & just skids along the road surface. When you use the front brake, you can brake harder because this torque is pushing the front wheel into the ground. Instead, the limit on front wheel braking is the torque required to toss the rider over the handlebars. This is a function of their weight & how far back behind the saddle they can get their backsides:) (This second limit means that a car can significantly outbrake a cyclist. Bicycles need more stopping distance than cars do if they need to carry out an emergency stop.)
• yupyupp 10y ago
  It has a coaster break (ie pedal-back break) on the rear.