Originally Posted by
andrewclaus
But there's apparently nothing wrong with my basic understanding of the physics. The Sheldon Brown article states that when braking with the front, the rear wheel can leave the ground, not exactly a stable position to be in, and exactly what I said.
In my experience, that fear is generally unfounded. Yes, you can can brake with the front hard enough to go over the bars, but that is a LOT harder to do than most people who avoid the front brake think.