[eporter]

My son is riding a 12 inch Trek pre-caliber that has a coaster brake. The fork and rear seat bridge have holes in them, so I’m thinking I could bolt on a traditional single bolt side pull brake. Not sure if the little tires are too wide? Also, in reading through some posts on here I see that a lot of times the main issue is that little hands can’t pull with the strength needed to stop with that style of brakes. I’m guessing that’s why there are linear pull and disc on more of them these days.

Normally I would probably just get something with brakes on it already, but we all know how bike stuff is kind of hard to find right now.

Funny, this bike had 20” wide riser bars on it. Pros weren’t riding stuff that wide in the 90s! I took them off and added a cut down old MTB bar. My little dude is little, so it may be awhile before he’s ready for a bigger bike with brakes.

Rim surface looks flat enough to use for brakes, but I’d have to sand the paint off.

Even if the overall result isn’t great, it might be a good intro to brakes?

 

[OnTheSun]

I added a rear caliper brake to a 12" REI Co-op, which is a coaster brake. My daughter was up and running on a borrowed cleary gecko that I had to return to its owner. But ultimately the coaster brake still frustrated her (kept her from reliably starting herself), and she went back to primarily using her balance bike until she grew into her 16" bike a few months later. She's just now reliably using the hand brakes on it instead of her feet, so I don't know that she got much out of the bonus brake on the 12" or the handbrakes on the gecko, for that matter - she literally never tried those. But I could get the REI bike to stop with the caliper brake, and its tires are the same size as the precaliber, so I think you could probably get brakes on your kid's bike.

For what it's worth she's currently 3.5 and on a 16" Belsize (bought off Amazon on prime day but currently in stock). I haven't measured her inseam in a while, but its minimum seat height is 18", which has her touching the ground on tiptoes and able to mount, start, and dismount without help.

I actually asked on this forum (it's why I joined - found my way here reading about swapping out the coaster) about swapping the REI 12" back wheel for a 12" freewheel from Cleary, but between wheel and hub cost, I decided to just wait out her fitting on a 16" bike. I do really like the Belsize - super light and a belt drive, and as we primarily ride on paved bike trails in local parks she doesn't need anything closer to a mountain bike.

 

[eporter]

That’s great info. Sounds like the thing to do is just wait for brakes until they’re ready for the next size up. Bike wrench dad just wants the excuse to rig up a brake because why not? Oh yeah, no time because kids...!

 

[plantdude]

I did this to my daughters 16” trek FWIW. added it only to the front as their little hands aren’t really strong enough to pull the brake and actually get it to stop quickly (zero ability for it to lock up). It was helpful for her and little sis when they moved up to the 20” with f/r hand brakes, to get used to using them. When they moved to the 20”, they already knew how to use the brake And they were off and riding right away without any fear of not understanding how to stop. Well worth the $15. Plus, a fun activity for you to do with your kiddo!

 

[shadowsports]

Stick with the coaster brakes. He will outgrow the bike long before you figure out an easy way of getting brakes on a bike that will only be used for a short period of time.

Kids grow... and fast...