Coaster Brake Challenge

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Purpose: 

To have fun, to race, to sweat, breathe hard, to ride hard, to challenge ones self. This is the anti-race race. Don't kid yourself it's hard, you may crash or puke (or both) but we are down for the fun and camaraderie more than the podium. Well, there is no podium but I think you get the point. 

We will be hosting 4 Sunday races in the month of July. Each race will have a meet point at 5pm and race at 5:30 or so. Most races will be short 1 to 2 hour affairs. Meet points and descriptions of each race will be posted so you know what to expect. If you want you can go check out the courses ahead of time, not that you need to but if your really need to know you can.

This race series is open to all comers. Men, women, kids, we don't discriminate. Come with a smile and leave with a smile (and perhaps an impressive scar.)

Race dates: July 4th, 11th, 18th, &25th. 2010. We'll have three new courses this time! 

A note on races:

Spectators: 

Some of these races are fun to watch and can be easily accessible for speciation. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being best the ability to spectate will be rated.

Meat Pylons: 

We're not the only ones out there people, so you will need to yield to horses and peds as best you can. The higher the number, the more Meat Pylons you'll have to deal with. Ride safe and be respectful of others. On hot days, expect the number to be lower. It should be hot. Bring water, you'll need it.

Course #1: The Doggie Run.

Meet point:

July 4th

Starbucks 

18100 Chatsworth St.
Suite E
Granada Hills, CA 91344
5 pm.

Spectators: 9

Meat Pylons: 5

75% single track with some poorly paved sections. Slight uphill on first half of the course and then undulating single track on the way back. The back side single track is very narrow so pass with care. Each lap is about 1 1/4 miles long, we'll be doing ten laps. There are a series of jumps at the back end so watch out for them. I know it's on the 4th so this is the easiest course out of the bunch as we'll most likely be full of bb-q. 

Race #2 The Eagle Has Landed

Meet point: Very south end of Reseda Blvd at the top.

July 11th 5 PM

Spectators: 3

Meat Pylons: 7

The entirety of this course is on fire roads. The course has a fair share of accents and descents. Several steep climbs and sweeping curves, most of the course is easy to handle. You'll be taking the dirt road to a gate an d hanging a left towards the hub. Once you climb to the hub you'll take the tail to the upper right to the eagle rock loop. The back side of the eagle rock loop has a tricky decent so be careful, it will dump you back on the dirt fire road then you'll do a 180 and head back towards the hub and return to the start point. The total length is about 7 1/4 miles long. 

Course #3 Sewer Sortie

Spectators: 8

Meat Pylons: 3

Meet point : Sunday July 18th 5pm.

Apollo II Model Aircraft Field, San Fernando Valley, Woodley Ave 

Drive all the way to the end. 

We'll be parking at the model airplane field and then taking a short ride through some single track to get to the start point. Travel light.

Mostly flat, some sandy sections and gravel roads with a tight single track section in the middle of the course, this will be the fastest course in the bunch. You start by going around the perimeter of the course on a dirt road, once you make it 2/3 of the way around you'll dive into a tight single track section. It will be easy to get lost one this section as there are many ways to go, the correct path will be marked but you'll still have to pay attention. Once out of the single track section, you go through the tunnel and make a left on the bike path to complete the loop. Each lap is around 1.25 miles, we'll be doing 10 laps. You may want to have harder gearing, wear gloves and perhaps a long sleeves shirt at the plant matter is tall and will be really dry and scratchy come summer time.

Race #4

Suburban Blight

Meet point 5 pm, July 25th

ALISO CANYON PARK

Between Reseda & Zelzah on Rinaldi
Northridge, CA 91326

Meet at the entrance to the park on Rinaldi, east of Reseda Blvd.. 

 
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Description: This will be a fast paced loop that we'll do 5 times. Most of the course if fairly flat with a few up hill sections and stream crossings. The first leg is narrow single track that dumps on a wider path where you can go all out to pass people. The trail turn points will be marked by blue chalk as it will be easy to get lost. Most of the single track is nearly overgrown from lack of use, the brush is tall so you will get scraped up a bit. I recommend bigger chain rings (34-42 teeth) for this one as you'll be doing a small amount of climbing and have plenty of opportunity for sprinting. You'll have several stream crossings on the single track section and a few short, steep climbs on the back side of the oval. One section of the single track dumps you back on wide trail, DO NOT TAKE THE WIDE TRAIL, the single track hooks right back, look for the chalk and follow the course. If you get lost and fail to complete all 5 laps correctly, you'll get one point for participating and that's it. 

Spectators 7

Meat pylons 7 

Expect unleashed dogs, people and perhaps a horse or two. If it's hot we should have full use but be careful.

 
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Rules for bikes:

Gearing: 

Single speed only. No internal geared hubs (sturmey-archer, bendix two speed kick backs etc.) no derailleur of any kind (A chain tensioner is fine but not recommended). No external gearing. No gears. No fixed gear. Each race will be different from the last and you may want a different gear ratio for each race and you can have any gear ratio you wish. We have found that 30-36 in the front and 18-22 in the back is the range best suited for this event, see what works best for you.

Drive system:

The rear hub must be a coaster brake. Single speed coaster brake only. No two-speed kick backs, etc (I know what they look like) Some coaster brakes are better than others, do your homework and get a good one. See below for more info. Cranks of any kind may be used as well as pedals.

Braking system:

Coaster brake only on the rear wheel only. No hand brakes of any kind. No secondary braking system of any kind. No drum brakes, no cables, rods, levers, etc of any kind. You pedal forward to go forward and back to stop. Nothing else.

Frame:

Preference for old double bar cruisers but there are no frame restrictions. We have found that cruiser frames and lower end frames with a horizontal dropouts work the best. Frames with a rigid dropout are difficult to get proper chain tension. We recommend the following types of bikes:

Single speed mountain bikes

Pros: take new bike goodies well

Cons: Can be costly

Cruisers 

Pros: Cheap and look cool too! Already have to correct spacing for a coaster brake.

Cons: Don't take mountain bikes goodies like threadless forks etc. Most have 1 piece cranks. Heavy.

Any 26" bike that has a horizontal drop out. 

Pros: Older Mountain bikes are cheap and plentiful and easily adapt to our purpose. 

Cons: None really, an ideal choice for this event. 

Forks:

Any.

Wheels/tires:

You can have any kind of hoop/tire combo. I suggest a light wheelset that you've laced a coaster brake into. Something rugged is good, I've done each race with cheap alloy cruiser rims, they have held up fine thus far.

Handlebars etc.

Everything else is left up to the individual rider.

Here are some examples of bikes that would work great for this event:

This is a custom job. A bit over the top unless you want to go that way but you can build a purpose built bike like this one or take something else and make it work. The gearing on this bike is 34/19 for now. I'm going to test it out and see if I need to change things. The bike has performed well, the rider, not so well.

Here's my old trusty 1964 Schwinn. It normally has V brakes and a freehub single speed set up but for this race I laced up some old Arayas ala bmx with a Bendix red band. The gearing is 36/20 and I've been able to climb up some pretty steep hills this bad boy. Once you learn some control with the break, you'll seldom skid. You just have to descend slower than you would on a regular bike. I've had this bike for years and beaten the hell out of it, old Schwinns make Ideal platforms for this kind of event. Note the "1 1/8 threadless fork in the frame made for "1 threaded. The bottom bracket clearance is a little low, it's something to look for. This bike does have 180mm cranks however, standard sizes should be no problem. Most of the races are on fire roads so low bb clearance is not a big deal.

Which hubs are good? (the tech section)

Not all coaster brake hubs are built alike. You'll need a good one to hang tough in this event. 

Newer hubs:

Shimano, they are ok, best around for a new hub and easily found. They spin really good and stop decent. For easy of accessibility and function, the Shimano hub is a solid choice.

Hi Stop, Falcon, CSC etc. very common hubs found on most newer coaster brake wheels. These tend to get a little sloppy after a few hard braking sessions, repacking them does little to remedy the problem. Not recommended but will work if that's all you have.

Velosteel/perry. Allegedly good, hard to source. Never seen one in the flesh so I don't really know.

Old Hubs:

Bendix red band: Decent. Most of these were on kids bikes so they are not the strongest bendix ever made but they are a crowd favorite. Most are in 28 hole, less common in 36.

Bendix Knurled hub: The brake arm will have "1970" or "1976" stamped on the torsion arm. Found on adult bikes, 4 brake pads, very stout and common in 36 hole.

New Departure: An excellent hub if you can find one. 

Perry, commet sachs etc. decent, not really tested one of these to the fullest. 

Morrow: reputedly the best, never even seen one, hard to find and costly.

Note: the cogs on some of theses are not the same as contemporary cogs, you may have to do some modification to make them fit. The biggest cog I've found for an older hub is 20 teeth, newer ones I've seen up to 22. Shimano cogs don't fit Bendix hubs and many of the older hubs have a different mounting set up than a snap-ring. These older hubs are on a general level better than new hubs. I recommend finding one of a little used girls bike as they tend to not be ridden hard or at all. You'll need to clean and repack the hub as the grease will act more like glue than lube once they have set for a time. I use boat trailer bearing grease, it's cheap and works great. 

For more info on coaster brakes:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/coaster-brakes.html

Spacing:

Most coaster brakes are 120mm or 125mm spacing. Most single speed mountain bikes are 130 or 125 mm spacing and contemporary mountain bikes are 135. The axel on your average coaster brake will be too short to fit in these frames, you'll have to swap it out for a longer one and add spacers. This is why an old cruiser frame works best. You'll also need a bike with horizontal dropouts so you can get proper chain tension. Contemporary mountain bikes with a fixed dropout will be hard to make work with a single speed, a chain tensioner may not work due to the coaster brake action. I recommend using something cheap and old for this event. 

Some new bikes out there have coaster brake spacing and a three piece crank, ideal for this event. Marin makes a cruiser and there is another bike called a Madwagon that would work well. Do your homework. 

Also if you need to calculate your gear inches:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Chain line and chain tension:

Chain Line

This is important stuff here, so if you don't know read up. Your chain line must be near straight, and deviation will likely cause your chain to fall off. This is double bad because not only do you loose your drive system, you loose your brakes. This can be "exciting" so make sure when you're putting your bike together you get that chain line nice and straight. Converting bikes with a fixed dropout can prove troublesome in this area. You may need to add spacers or have the wheel over to the drive side more than the other side to get a good chain line. You may need to put a longer axel in your coaster brake hub so it will fit your repurposed bike. 

Chain Tension

Also very important. As you climb you'll put a lot of stress on the frame and if your chain is loose it will come off. If your chain is too tight it will bind on the hub causing drag and potentially backing off the cones in the hub leading to a component failure. Your chain should have 1/8 to 1/4 inch of slack in it once it's on the bike. Frames with horizontal drop-outs work best for keeping the wheel from moving. Eccentric bottom bracket are costly and can fail where lugs and a couple of toothed washers have carried the day for over a hundred years now, why mess with success? Chain tensioners can also be employed. 

I want to join but do not have the stuff to make a bike.

No problem, I'll have good wheelsets and frames, and complete bikes suitable for this event. I can weld BMX dropouts on your steel frame. Let me know ASAP so we can get your rig dialed in before the race. Complete bikes should run in the 85-200 dollar range depending on what you want. 

Rules for riders:

No substitutions.

Bring stuff to fix your bike on the trail with you.

Helmet.

No crybabies.

Entry Fee and what you get:

The Entry Fee is $20.00 for all four races, that's 5 bucks a race. You'll have to pay the 20.00 if you make one or all 4 races.

You get a T-shirt. They're different each time. 

You get a Patch.

Perhaps some schwag, we'll see.

Scoring:

Each rider will get a number and you will be scored as thus:

1 point for entering a race

1 additional point for a third place finish

2 additional points for a second place finish

3 additional points for a first place finish

Each first place rider (stage winner) will get a trophy made from old bike parts!

At the end of the series the point leader will be the overall champ. Best to show up to each race to increase your odds.

Sign up at:

Atomic Cycles

17322 Saticoy

Van Nuys, CA 91046

818 609-0113

or 

Show up to a race and sign up there!

Current Standings

Archive of old race info: Click here.