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I'm going to convert the rear of my sons Spesh Hardrock from a coaster brake to a freewheel (I've got a wheel ready to fit) but I need to sort a back brake for it. The frame only has a mount for an oldskool caliper brake so I picked one up from ebay but the spring is so strong it's really difficult for a small person to pull the lever. Has anyone got a suggestion to lighten it up or even an alternative suggestion for a rear brake?
When you say old school caliper barke do you mean cantilever or V brakes?
V brakes have adjuster screws to alter the spring tension near the pivot.
Cantilever with the centre pivot bolt
You should be able to bend the spring with pliers to slacken the return.
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Where can you buy those??
Actually I've just seen, they're like rocking horse shit to get hold of and everyone under the sun goes for them on eBay 🙁
[url= http://www.evolutionbikeco.com/brakes.html ]http://www.evolutionbikeco.com/brakes.html[/url]
US$60 apparently, and they don't come with the actual bosses.
Identity do a version for 25 pounds, but you'd need to shim the ID:
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DMR, PAce and others used to make something similar, but can be difficult to track down.
I'm in the process of machining a set up for my daughters 12" Hotrock.
richpips is right - you can slacken off the spring. I haven't actually done it, but have seen it mentioned and I need to get around to doing it.
I would suggest contacting a couple of British kids bike manufacturers (ie Islabike and Frog) and seeing if they would sell you a fork with vbrake bosses. They might even sell you the vbrakes and levers too.
Not for the front it's for the back. The front brake works great and is really light to pull but with getting rid of the coaster I want to make sure the back end is covered too. Living in the middle of the High Peak means pretty much wherever we go there's a hill involved!
That's cool that the front brake is already good. Is it vbrake or sidepull? I had to do the aforementioned fork replacement on my son's bike as I found his sidepull brakes were no use at all.
Let me know if you manage to sort the back brake as I really must do my son's. Mind you he is doing fine with just a front brake. And he has decided foot jams are way more fun anyway...
I just disconnected my sons it is not like they are flying and the front brake will stop them anyway