Coaster brake question - wear in needed?

[RatRodDad]

I recently bought a Firmstrong Chief bike that came with a single speed coaster brake rear wheel.

I traded out the 3 speed Nexus rear wheel on my Caloi and put that on the Chief and put the single speed rear wheel back on the Caloi.

The few times I rode the Chief with the single speed rear end on it, when you hit the brakes very hard going fairly slow it would lock up tight and you had to push it forward or pedal real hard to get it rolling again.

The single speed rear is now on the Caloi and I rode it for a while today - applying the brakes fairly frequently - and it is still pretty grabby if you hit them very hard. Even if you hit them lightly they begin to slow you and when you let off, the hub makes a popping noise and then freewheels again. So it's almost like it's on the verge of locking up and then pops loose when you let off on the brake.

So I'm wondering if there it anything wrong with the rear hub, or maybe something on it that needs adjusting, or if it just takes a while for a new one to wear in where it will stop smoothly without locking up.

If you have any experience with this or have any ideas, let me know. As usual, thanks for the input.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey RRD,Is that hub oiled enough/alot inside?

It should be.It might be grabbing because its too dry.

Just an idea.

 

[RatRodDad]

Thanks for the response MR.

It was a new rear hub so I'm not sure about the oil in it. My assumption is that they filled it correctly since you don't normally have to do that on a new one.

I rode it around again yesterday - stopping every 20 feet or so, and it slowly got better. So I think maybe it also just needed to seat the pads inside from a little bit of use.

Turned out that I sold the bike last night - so I guess if it had a problem the new owner can deal with it, but I think it will do okay now that I wore it in some.