Adding Brakes to a WCC frame?

[D3adkl0wn]

Hey all,

I'm currently making a ride from a WCC Jesse James 20" bike and am hitting a wall when it comes to brakes..

As you may or may not know, this bike comes with coaster brakes, and no posts or options for any other kind. Ideally I'd love to make it a freewheel and have V brakes or something, but i'm open to other suggestions.

I looked at the coaster to drum conversion in the How To manual here and although it seems like a neat idea, it seems a little beyond what I can do due to the welding, and right now my budget isnt really allowing me to send something out to be welded..

Are there any of you that have added brakes to this frame in a DIY weld free way, or can offer suggestions as to what might work?

 

[D3adkl0wn]

has anyone tried this V Brake bolt on listed here on a larger framed bike?
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33168&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

[Bicycle808]

You can run drums without welding anything at all. The rear drum will use the same strap as the coaster brake does. In fact, I think the wcc frames have a little slot where you bolt the brake arm to; if that's the case (and i think I recall that it is), then you just bolt the drum brake arm to that.

Here's my ol' worksman with a rear Sturmey-Archer Drum hub, coupled with a SS freewheel:

For a front drum, you can run a drum and hold the brake arm in place with a suitably sized hose clamp. Here's a Sturmey-Archer drum attached to a landing gear fork; the fork-legs are really fat on these, but even if the WCC is larger diameter, you could do it with a bigger hose-clamp. Hose clamps are easily found at any hardware store.

Another view, same bike:

With the welding, I think you're thinkin' about disc brakes, which need the appropriate bosses. With Sturmey drums being cheap and plentiful, and worksman drums from RRB member Ind-chuckz being even cheaper, there's no sense in going for discs.

As for bolt-on canti bosses: I've never used them, but I've heard stories told of them damaging the stays on some frames. Plus, rim brakes on a wcc frame would look odd, at least to my eye.

hth
Rob

 

[D3adkl0wn]

I was referring to the coaster mod and welding.. but yeah, I can't allow $80 + Shipping (likely $35-$40) per drum to put actual drum brakes on the bike lol. and before you say "buy local" .. my LBS (both of them) sells mountain and road bikes.. thats pretty much all.. I can't even get simple stuff i want like ape hangers and snappy grips.

as for the Vbrake, Yeah, it would look weird, but I was planning on hiding the rear one a closer to the bottom of the frame, and the front one i'd have to deal with, it's too hilly around here to not have brakes.

 

[Bicycle808]

Oh; I think I recall seeing a thread somewhere about that "mod". Looks pretty sketch to me...

In other news, I just priced SA x-fd/x-rd's out at niagara; $144 shipped for the front/rear set. So, like $72/wheel, includes shipping. That's for new, sealed bearing hubs, with brakes included. If that's too pricey for ya, well... Coaster brakes are pretty good, too. :shock:

If your LBSes don't have a QBP account, they're not really LBSes. Even still, my LBS would charge me more for the hubs than Niagara would...

Good luck with the build.

 

[D3adkl0wn]

I'm in Canada, I priced the same at just over $100 per drum shipped. pretty steep.. either way, thanks for the suggestion!