I have a single speed bicycle with a coaster brake. The brake was slipping and not fully engaging as it's intended to do. So I watched and followed along with a YouTube video on coaster brake overhaul. It seemed like it went well but now I have the opposite problem. The brake works completely now and brings the bike to a complete stop but it's almost impossible to pedal the bike at all! I could barely make it one block on flat smooth pavement! What did I do wrong? Should I attempt a redo overhaul? Did I over tighten something? Would the placement and tension of coaster brake arm have an impact on pedaling?
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1Could be something as simple as the tyre rubbing against the frame if you installed the wheel tilted. Or you accidentally tightened the cup&cone bearings. Or the brake is now partially engaged all the time.– MichaelCommented Aug 6 at 8:46
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6Can you freely spin the wheel if you lift the back of your bike off the ground?– BerendCommented Aug 6 at 13:53
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Yes my tire spins freely when I lift the backend of my bike up– AlisonCommented Aug 8 at 5:49
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When I spin the back wheel without the use of the pedals, I can spin it in both directions. Is that how it's suppose to work? I thought if I tried to spin it backwards that the brake would engage making it not possible to spin backwards– AlisonCommented Aug 8 at 5:52
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2 Answers
Your first step here should be to get the bike into a position where you have the rear wheel off the ground (be that flipped upside down, or up on a work stand, or some other solution), and then check whether:
- The rear wheel spins freely when you spin it directly by hand.
- The pedals/cranks are not hard to move by hand.
If the first check fails, then it is most likely a case of something rubbing where it shouldn’t be. Check that your wheel is installed straight, that your chain has the right tension and is lined up properly, that any other brakes are aligned correctly, etc. In most cases, this is a trivial fix.
If the first check passes, but the second fails (this is what I suspect will be the case), then it’s very likely that you’ve over-tightened the bearings in the rear hub when putting things back together and the coaster brake is at least partly engaged all the time. This can be fixed pretty easily by just taking the wheel off again and re-adjusting the bearings.
In the very unlikely case that both checks pass, that means that something is causing the drive-train to experience more friction under load than when unloaded. This is difficult to diagnose online, and I would suggest getting a professional opinion from your local bike store. This may be as simple as getting something wrong when putting things back together, or it may be that something was already going wrong and the overhaul just happened to shift things enough that the issue is now clearly visible.
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Reaction arm. If the reaction arm is disconnected from the anchor on the bicycle frame, every time you hit the brakes you are tightening up the internals on your hub. It's not actuating the brakes, you're pinching the coaster brake shell when the hub get's tighter. Commented Aug 14 at 0:23
I'm not really familiar with coaster brakes (I HATE them very much), but my first guess is you overtightened the bearing cone so now the brake is permanently engaged. If you can't find a sweet spot between "engaged all the time" and "doesn't brake at all", I'd check the brake pads and brake surface:
- Are the pads or the brake surface worn down?
- Have the pads turned to bricks due to age?
- Is everything inside the brake clean? If not, use a wire brush for the pads first and then apply brake cleaner liberally
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1Rarely and I mean very rarely do the brake shoes in a coaster brake hub wear out. Usually the clutch spring has overheated and lost tension or the clutch driver is worn. Commented Aug 14 at 0:27