Does anyone use different brakes than come on the bike?

[Kestrel Motors Inc.]

So, does anyone use different brakes than just what come on your bike? I had to take the pedals out of my bike-- and I put a caliper brake on the front end. I didn't know if you guys used disc brakes or just the scrubbers that are on there. Thanks!

Kestrel Motors Inc.

[wheelbender6]

Adding drum brake wheels is easy. A front drum wheel fits any fork. However, it is tough to bolt an engine sprocket to the rear drum wheel. Probably best to use a shift/jackshift kit in that case.
If you are using a friction drive, a rear drum brake is no problemo.
Seems like the most popular brake upgrade is to simply add only a front disk brake, since the front provides up to 75% of the stopping power. Sometimes you can buy a cheapo mountain bike with a front disk from craigslist for less than buying the parts yourself (disk wheel, disk compatible fork, rotor, caliper, disk cable and lever).

[retromike3]

I use V-brake clones and they seem to do the job quite well. I do have to check them before I go out on a ride because I tend to wear down the pads pretty quick, But I have can lock up the rear wheel and stall the engine if I choose to.

On my front brake the fork I installed was set up for a cross bike so I had to cut off the old cantilever braze ons and weld new ones in place. This made my bike more stable because it slackened the head angle a bit. I also replaced the rear dropouts with track bike ones, but I made sure that the rear hub placement was the same so I didn't have to change the rear brake mounts.

So I guess I do own a chopper.

mike

[seanhan]

I put better v brakes on my point beach, stock ones were junk.
Tip find some high end used ones for cheap...many bicycle riders upgrade their brakes to super expensive ones , buy their high end brakes for low price, and wow what a difference..
Sometimes you can find some good used ones at a bike shop the has upgraded some ones bike and kept their old brakes..buy some new pads and wala!!!
Also i bought new cables from a bike shop , what a difference...

[retromike3]

What I did was to put Tecktro brakes with top end Koolstop pads on my bike and they work grate. I did have some problem with them squealing a bit, until I got them alined correctly. Tecktros are not top of the line but the design is well thought out.(shimano clones)


mike

[5-7HEAVEN]

I use BB7 203mm discs, front and rear.

[motorbikemike45]

I automatically replace the V brake pads that came with my bikes with a premium pad like cool Stop or Rav-X. On my most recent 48Volt build the speeds are high enough that I replaced the original v brake arms with longer units to increase the applied leverage when stopping. They have shortened my stopping distances noticeably.

On one bike with a disc brake in the front I replaced the cheap, second rate caliper original to the bike that tended to bind up with the excellent BB-7 unit. It was very pricy, but worth it.

I absolutely must have good brakes on both wheels. A single brake is far to ineffective at stopping a motored bike at the speeds we can reach to even be considered.

[loquin]

I replaced the standard front hub with a sturmey-archer dynahub/drum brake, and kept the existing V-Brakes. The handle bars are a little ... busy ... though, so I think I'm going to replace the two brake levers on the left with a single pyramid double-lever.

[dodge dude94]

Can I use these: http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...+Calipers.aspx
on my cruiser? I currently have the stock cruiser tires on it, and I am afraid that they wouldn't reach for some reason.
I would use a dual pull lever and set up both. Any thoughts?

[H20RIDER]

Just a related question:
Can a Sturmey Archer X-FD (front drum brake) be used on a rear wheel?