tarik saleh wrote:
i have a beat raleigh sports 1966 flavor that I got at a garage sale in bits and pieces. I think it was midway through an overhaul by a non bikey scientist who thought a bike could not be that hard and then bailed. I am in the midst of turning it into some sort of coasterbraked townie venturing into the OT landscape. <snip> ++++++++++++++++++++++ Tarik - I don't know you, don't know your weight, and don't remember the hilliness of Albuquerque. I've seen messengers in Copenhagen riding high-zoot Italian bikes fitted with coasters, but I just don't think that they were designed for adults in hilly terraine. Just consider the surface area that dissipates heat and/or cooks grease. Perhaps it was just urban legend, but the claim was often made that Bendix tested its coasters to destruction by having a few big burly guys ride them downhill till they cooked. Might work fine for commuters @ 15 km/hr in flat Amsterdam, but they don't plan on repeated emergency stops.
Besides, as we've talked about repeatedly on this list, I trust that the coaster would not be in lieu of a front brake, which can pull the bike to a stop twice as fast.
Good luck with the project, though!
harvey sachs
mcLean va