Coaster Brake Up Front?

[UncleKudzu]

ok, here goes a newb's first question:

for my motorized bike, the Molotov, i was wondering if a coaster brake hub could be used on the front wheel as a sturdy hub and as a drum brake. could a coaster brake be made to work as a hand brake? maybe an arm of some kind with a return spring replacing the sprocket? and if not a working brake, is there any reasom why my shiny Komet Super coaster hub couldn't be gutted and used as front hub?

thanks in advance for indulging the new kid

 

[necessaryevil]

I've seen people with motorized bikes make a rear brake lever that pulls on a stock coaster hub, I'm sure you could do it up front. You could even keep the sprocket on the hub and weld a chain into it, and make something that pulls the chain in the same fashion that you would stop a regular coaster brake bike. That's all I can think of, don't know if it helps. I also think you could pick up an old drum brake front hub for a decent price, maybe someone here has one?

 

[UncleKudzu]

...You could even keep the sprocket on the hub and weld a chain into it, and make something that pulls the chain in the same fashion that you would stop a regular coaster brake bike.

thanks, necessaryevil! after looking at some exploded views and explainations of how a coaster brake works, i can't see why it wouldn't work. i wonder if getting sufficient force and travel through a hand brake lever is the real question?

 

[kingsting]

I tried it a long time ago on my klunker project and couldn't get it to work very well. My problem was that I couldn't get enough cable pull with a regular caliper lever to activate my vintage Bendix hub. Now, with a new hub and a V-brake lever it might work out.