Upgrading Brakes on Child's Bike

Stephen Thomas said:

My 5yr-old daughter has a 16" Giant bicycle which has a standard coaster break. I'm considering
adding handbrakes, perhaps even removing the coaster brake entirely. Any comments or suggestions?
Her bike doesn't have any braze-ons, but it does have bolt holes front and rear that look like they
could take caliper brakes.

I'd be inclined to leave the coaster for now but add a good quality front brake. Once she's
confident with that it's not unlikely she'll be ready for a bigger bike anyway - they grow
so fast :-)

Guy
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"Stephen Thomas" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

My 5yr-old daughter has a 16" Giant bicycle which has a standard coaster break. I'm considering
adding handbrakes, perhaps even removing the coaster brake entirely. Any comments or suggestions?
Her bike doesn't have any braze-ons, but it does have bolt holes front and rear that look like
they could take caliper brakes.

TIA,

Stephen

Keep the coaster brake as is. Young children don't have very powerful hands, so hand braking isn't
too reliable. On the other hand, you could easily add a front brake which she could learn to use
gradually.

On my daughter's bike, I have found an old sidepull brake, which I installed on the front wheel...
with the lever on the right side like I have on my bike. Don't ask me why, but she always brakes
with the coaster brake, but in downhills, she slows down with the hand brake.

Regards,

Michel Gagnon

I'd second this. Kids have a hard time with the rear brake, especially if the cable has outer
housing all the way from the lever to the caliper. Get a front caliper with a good quality teflon
housing/wire combo for minimal resistance and leave the coaster as-is. I've built cheap kids bikes
with rear brakes that even I couldn't manipulate satisfactorily! Probably one of the poorest areas
for kids bikes frankly.

Cheers,

Scott..
--
Scott Anderson

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I'd be inclined to leave the coaster for now but add a good quality front brake. Once she's
confident with that it's not unlikely she'll be ready for a bigger bike anyway - they grow so
fast :-)

Guy
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(Michel Gagnon) said:

On my daughter's bike, I have found an old sidepull brake, which I installed on the front wheel...
with the lever on the right side like I have on my bike.

The plus side here is that she'll be learning good habits for later. The more she uses the hand
brake the more she'll become accustomed to using the front brake as the primary means of braking
when you actually want to stop. Right hand = front brake is a good setup for me, because I am very
right-handed due to a childhood injury to the left hand. My bike came with the brakes the wrong way
round, but I've had them switched (get me - "had them switched!" - I would do it myself, but they're
hydraulic ad I haven't got the refilling kit).

Quoted message said:

Don't ask me why, but she always brakes with the coaster brake, but in downhills, she slows down
with the hand brake.

See, she's learning already! :-)

Guy
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