When you add hand brakes to a cruiser bike, you can easily take your cruiser bike on a variety of steep mountain roads. From today’s writing, you will know many important and detailed information about adding hand brakes to a cruiser bike. Moreover, some more about different types of hand brakes, and the reasons for using them will come up in my article today. Now let’s discover the complete dissertation together.
Hand Brakes Types
- Side-pull Caliper Brake
- Direct-pull Cantilever brake (V-brake)
When You Need To Use Hand Brake On A Cruiser Bicycle?
Notice that most cruiser bikes are designed to have a single coaster brake on the wheel. As Cruiser bikes are mainly designed for comfortable riding on various smooth and slippery roads. So, this is enough to brake properly anywhere with a single coaster brake. And, Coaster brakes on cruiser bikes can easily meet all your braking needs on any type of safe and smooth road. That’s why many riders prefer to ride in different types of terrain with a cruiser bike. So, when you are riding in hilly areas you must use a strong pedal to ride properly. Then, of course, installing a hand brake on your cruiser bicycle becomes imperative.
There are many different tastes of riders who want to ride up steep hills with a cruiser and stop very quickly as well. Though all these tasks can be done easily through hand brakes, riding on steep mountain roads naturally becomes more challenging for the riders.
- Steep hills naturally require the use of powerful pedals, while a cruiser bike’s only coaster brake can put you in danger. And, Hand brakes can make riding easier with your cruiser bike even in hilly areas to deal with such dangerous situations. Because in this case the rider’s full focus and full energy will be on pedaling the bike and will be able to take over the hill completely.
Answers That Bikers Need to Know Before Adding Hand Brakes To A Cruiser
1. What about the cost to install hand brakes on a cruiser bike?
- Installing cost for hand brakes on a cruiser bike by professional mechanics is around $80 to $150. Sometimes it can be higher than that.
- Installing the cost for hand brakes on a cruiser bike by yourself is around $25 to $35.
2. Which tools do you need for attaching a hand brake to a cruiser bike in the home?
- 10 mm wrench
- Allen key or Phillips (+) screwdriver
- Hand cable puller
- Torque Wrench
3. Can I install a hand brake on any type of bike? Or is this only for cruiser bikes?
Yes, you can easily install a hand brake on any type of bike. It is really a great option for any regular bicycle. So, this is not only for a cruiser bike.
4. Is a hand brake enough for a cruiser bike?
Of course, the hand brake is perfect enough for a cruiser bike. This brake has extra capability in riding hilly areas by cruiser cycle.
Adding Hand Brakes To A Cruiser Bike
Shimano trademark “V-brake” which is also commonly known as ‘direct-pull cantilever brake’, this is one of the hand brakes, which is very easy to install. Because it is manufactured very simply by using only a single cable when installed.
- This brake is placed in the cable housing.
- By attaching one of the arms to the opposite side of the upper part of the bicycle tire.
- When this brake is applied on a cruiser bike, the cantilever of the housing starts to push.
- Due to this, the inner wire keeps pulling each other.
- Moreover, one can easily use this brake with a long arm as the cable of this brake usually runs over the tire.
So, normally when braking it should be raised high enough to keep the tire clear of the brake cable. One of the main advantages of using direct-pull brakes is that they lock the wheels of the bike when coaster brakes or other traditional cantilever brakes stop working on a cruiser bike.
While studying both types of brakes it has consistently concluded that stopping your cruiser bike on both sides is pretty much the same as pushing on the opposite side of the rim.
- Changing the design of a bike will add many new things and change many things, bringing with it many advantages and disadvantages.
Therefore, all things should be considered before installing a hand brake on a cruiser bike.
Benefits And Drawbacks Of Hand Brakes On A Cruiser
Everything has its fine sites with some deficiencies and adding something new like adding hand brakes onto a cruiser is not exceptional too. Thus here we will talk about those facts so that we can aware of the good and bad things.
Advantage Of A Cruiser Bike With Hand Brakes:
- Have some different types of brakes like front brake and rear brake.
- It can provide you with adequate learning of the sufficient brake system.
- Manageable to install by any cyclist.
- If the brake is broken, it is simple to fix it again.
- Effortless to ride on any type of hilly area with this brake.
- You can support the cruiser cycle’s pedal and coast.
Disadvantage Of A Cruiser Bike With Hand Brakes:
- Need to change or replace most of the parts when they brake.
- More expensive.
- Efforts in moist and wet situations.
- Need more practice to achieve the proper braking method.
Final Words Regarding Adding Hand Brakes On The Cruisers
Hope you have learned a lot of important and unknown information about hand brakes from today’s article. And, I know that’ll be of great help in adding hand brakes to most favorite cruiser bicycles. So, if there is a need, then without delay, attach a hand brake to your favorite cruiser bike and bring an extra innovation.
