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I have a bicycle with a coaster brake. It is very "handy" to brake even without hands. But somehow I can only do a stand still start. This means if have to get on bike first and then start pedaling. With other bikes step on the pedal and push my bike till got like 5km/h and then hop on. If I do that with my Dutch-bike, I always trigger the brakes and hence fail to quick start.

Is there any way to avoid this?

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  • Yep, this is a problem with a coaster brake.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Oct 26, 2016 at 20:05
  • Welcome to Bicycles @Handy. As with all new members we recommend that you take the tour to make best use of the site :-)
    – andy256
    Commented Oct 26, 2016 at 22:26
  • Strange. I run Dutch bike with Sram T3 IGH with coaster brake and observe no such behavior. Ok, it can only happen when pedal pass its "lowest point" and is on its way up. Then standing on it will trigger braking. When it is on its lowest point, I find it pretty similar to starting on mtb. I put my left foot on left pedal, push the ground with my right leg. But the best setting is to stand on pedal that is on its way down, before lowest point.
    – krzyski
    Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 13:02

2 Answers 2

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There's only one solution I can think of, but it's a sweet one.

Cyclocross remounting

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  • 2
    While that does look legit... it also looks potentially painful
    – Nate W
    Commented Oct 26, 2016 at 20:46
  • 1
    I'd avoid trying it without tight shorts...
    – alex
    Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 5:29
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I find that I can get a slight rolling start by standing next to the bike with the pedal closest to me just past the top of its stroke and the close-to-bike leg just behind that pedal. That leg is going to swing over the bike. If I step forward with the other leg, pushing the bike, the outside leg can step onto the pedal. Then I swing the inside leg over the bike.

It's not a proper run-and-jump onto the bike, but it does allow me to put a bit of force into the movement if I'm trying to start going uphill with a single-speed bike.

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  • Just what I was going to say :-)
    – andy256
    Commented Oct 26, 2016 at 22:34
  • You could add, from Sheldon Coaster brakes make it awkward to get started ...
    – andy256
    Commented Oct 26, 2016 at 22:35
  • @andy256 I would add: "..for inexperienced rider". While I agree with most Pros and Cons provided under your link, having big respect to Sheldon Brown site, I cannot agree second Con. Skidding is a matter of bad braking technique and apply to most modern read brake designs
    – krzyski
    Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 14:22

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