bike has coaster and caliper brakes

[vlad]

think TEOTWAWKI, SERE or SHTF scenario

If I had a heavily loaded bike with coaster brake and the brake failed or the chain broke I could be in trouble.

For under $100 put a heavy duty Husky wheelset on a bike with caliper brakes and you have redundant brakes.

click on this link, scroll to bottom click NEXT to go to second page of wheels
http://huskybicycles.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=hb&Category_Code=wheels

these are thick 26" steel rims with 0.120" spokes. wheelset rated to 450 lbs

WHEEL 26x2.125 rear coaster brake, 120g, steel (HD-120)
Code:500-222
Price: $42.00

and

WHEEL 26x2.125 front, 120-g spokes (HD-120), steel
Code:500-230
Price: $27.00


just below on same page see HD-105 wheelset rated at 350 lbs

 

[artemidorus]

I'm glad to see that you edited this post for clarification, Vlad. It remains, however, as clear as mud.

 

[vlad]

I'm glad to see that you edited this post for clarification, Vlad. It remains, however, as clear as mud.

TEOTWAWKI = the end of the world as we knew it
SERE = survive, evade, resist, escape
SHTF = the **** hit the fan

imagine that you have to leave the area after a sesimic, weather or social emergency. you have only your bicycle.

You, rifle, ammo, sleepbag, packsack etc
total just over 300 lbs. As you start down the hill the chain on your bicycle breaks. Bike has a coaster brake on the rear wheel, and no front wheel brake. As you pass 64 mph on your way to
the hairpin curve overlooking Dismal Gulch 300 feet below, you have time to appreciate the irony of your situation, and you speak aloud Henley's Invictus and prepare to meet your doom in a soldierly manner.

http://www.bartleby.com/103/7.html

OTOH if your bicycle has caliper brakes, and the heavy duty wheelset described, you can stop the bike at will, make repairs and proceed safely.

 

[meb]

TEOTWAWKI = the end of the world as we knew it
SERE = survive, evade, resist, escape
SHTF = the **** hit the fan

imagine that you have to leave the area after a sesimic, weather or social emergency. you have only your bicycle.

You, rifle, ammo, sleepbag, packsack etc
total just over 300 lbs. As you start down the hill the chain on your bicycle breaks. Bike has a coaster brake on the rear wheel, and no front wheel brake. As you pass 64 mph on your way to
the hairpin curve overlooking Dismal Gulch 300 feet below, you have time to appreciate the irony of your situation, and you speak aloud Henley's Invictus and prepare to meet your doom in a soldierly manner.

http://www.bartleby.com/103/7.html

OTOH if your bicycle has caliper brakes, and the heavy duty wheelset described, you can stop the bike at will, make repairs and proceed safely.

It's common for tandems to be equiped with front and rear caliper brakes as well as a hub brake on a wheel- with a heavy load on a long downhill caliper brakes heat up the rims enough to blowout tubes. More often the the rear has the redundant brake so you don't break the front fork trying to stop that load downhill.

It was also common for many coaster brakes, particularly stingrays and cruisers, to be equiped with rear coaster and front caliper in the event of chain failure plus all wheel brakes can stop you faster anyway.