The surestop brake system is a crazy design for a bicycle brake. What it does is use the friction of a a brake pad rubbing on the rim of the rear wheel to pull a cable to activate a cable to pull a V-brake cable in order to activate the front brake. There is only one brake lever, which activates the rear brake, which then automatically activates the front brake. According to the manufacturer there are three benefits to this system:

• Single lever operation operates both front and rear brakes.
• The way force is transferred from rear wheel to front wheel will prevent the rider from locking up the front wheel. The rider will not flip over the front handlebars by over application of the front brake. This was apparently the motivation of the original inventor of this system.
• Compared to a single rear coaster brake, both wheels are used for braking.

So why is this concept is a bad idea when compared to having separate activated front and rear V-brakes. I will ignore the comparison to a single coaster brake, since the cost of this system is essentially the same as conventional V-brakes. A dual braking system should be superior to any single coaster brake system.

• First and foremost – there is no redundancy in a SureStop braking system. If your rear brake fails or falls out of adjustment, you will have absolutely no brakes at all. Unlike the SureStop system, conventional front and rear V-brakes are completely independent, so if one or the other fails, you still have the other brake system to rely upon.
• Having several extra elements between the brake level and the front brake pads, the SureStop system requires the system to be extremely finely adjusted in order for it to work properly. Normal V-brakes have a much greater range of adjustability that will still result in adequate braking. Thus, the SureStop system will degrade faster with wear and tear and be more difficult to maintian than a conventional system.
• Having the mechanical system automatically apply the front brake prevents a competent rider from modulating front and rear brakes independently if traction between front and rear wheels differs. Automatic front brake operation cannot possibly outperform a rider that has learned proper control of independent front and rear brakes.

The SureStop system is designed to help prevent a rider from over application of the front brake and from flipping over the handlebar. Regardless, in my mind, a conventional V-brake system provides a vastly more reliable and safer solution to the problem of braking a bicycle. The most important factor being the redundancy built into a conventional system. Though I’m sure that some people have used carefully maintained SureStop brakes and haven’t had any extraordinary problems with them, I would avoid this braking solution.