It’s another slow day, so I thought I’d throw this out. I was riding with my 6-year-old daughter the other day and started thinking about her coaster brake. You know, pedal backward and the bike stops.
Now jump to this - I’m screaming down a hill trying to be as aero as possible and milk every ounce of speed to get me up the next one. Out jumps the gopher from a previous thread (not likely in MS), or down goes a rider in front of me, or the sharp turn at the bottom is approaching. For whatever reason, I need to brake. Why should I be forced to move my hands from my aerobars? In an emergency situation this reaction time could be the difference between joining or avoiding a pileup. Why can’t I have a coaster brake?
Hmmm, actually kind of a good question. I think it has more to do with the complexity of the internals when combined with a freehub. Also, the braking power is relatively poor in the racing bike context, handbrakes actually exert a pretty substantial braking force. The coaster brakes are pretty heavy too- even a “light weight” version might likely be heavier than hand brakes. Then again, some product manager at Shimano probably read this thread and is CAD CAMing the thing now. Not a bad thought. Interesting…
Don’t coaster brakes usually lock up the back wheel for those cool skids we used to do on the sidewalk? I would think an emergency coaster brake would cause huge handling problems, especially with hands still on the aerobars. But the skid marks would be fun!
I think some company has brakes that go on the ends of your aerobar (like a twist or a push break). I wonder why not many people use em (except for the fact they are as aerodynamic).