Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Track Bike Brake Down

Hey all,

I have a question for those of you with a bit more cycling experience. I've been riding a fixed gear track bike as my commuter and beater for the last two years. I'm finally getting to the point though, where I feel like it's irresponsible not to take better care of my knees (since I'm commuting over 100 miles a week right now and likely to go more over the summer when I pick up more work). I was thinking of converting the bike into a single speed (swapping out the track cog for a free wheel) and adding a brake to the rear wheel (I already have one up front). Just one problem . . . track bike is not drilled for a rear brake mount.

Anyone have any creative ideas for how to add some sort of braking system to the rear wheel? Do you think I need one? I rarely if ever used the power-slide as a stopping trick; it was almost entirely up to the front brake to slow me down. Am I going to be ok riding just a front brake on the single speed? I have trouble judging how much of an impact it's going to make on my riding to go to a single speed. I can't quite imagine riding with a disc brake on the rear wheel -- not to mention, I'm not even sure that it's possible to hook that up.

Any thoughts, tips, etc. would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
D.

Coaster hub.

Would a coaster hub really work? I'm riding clipless pedals (WTB garbage pedals) right now; I think the last time I had a coaster hub on anything must have been the old schwinn my grandparents bequeathed to me when I was in high school (and that had platform pedals on it for sure!).

My wheels right now are Mavic CXP22's; am I going to be able to put a coaster hub on that? I'll admit, I hadn't thought about that. A coaster hub would let me coast and brake, and would solve the problem of not being drilled for a rear brake mount. What would a potential downside be?

I don't know much about coaster hubs; any more thoughts?
Thanks!

A coaster brake isn't as good as a properly functional rim brake, they can heat up and melt out the grease on braking descents, and they often roll with some drag when coasting.

If you are going to keep using a front brake for most of your stopping power, you wouldn't have to worry about a coaster meltdown. They are heavier and have slightly more drag than a freewheel, but still work quite well. If you search the fixed forum for 'coaster brake' you'll find a lot of info. And lots of jimv.

i've also wondered how stupid of an idea it is to run a singlespeed with front brake only. the rear brake cable on my singlespeed jammed up (i'm not sure how this happened, but my frame was drilled and had the cable running internally, and it was stuck somewhere in there) so instead of trying to fix it, i just took the rear brake off completely. i figured i hardly use the rear brake in general, so it wouldn't hurt that bad to take it off. several riders have told me that's stupid and that i'm going to get hurt, but i don't really understand why? the only person that explained why it was stupid just said that i could flip over the handlebars, but this has never even came close to happening.

does anybody else have any explanations of why this is such a bad idea?

brake cables fail.
brake pads fail.

brake cables fail.
brake pads fail.
chains fail.
tires fail.
bikes fail.


everything fails. don't leave the house... wait... houses can fail too. noose it is. crap, rope fails. it's hopeless and ropeless.

The real reason is because a front brake only is well suited to providing primary stopping power in a straight line on solid footing. When you're in a corner or steering and you need to brake or you need to brake on an uncertain surface, then it's very good to have control over the rear wheel as well.

I ride a ss with only a front brake, so do a few of my friends...never had ANY problems with it...in fact, the only thing i miss is not being able to ride the hoods, but i use bullhorns, so it is a moot point...run the front. unless you are doing something pretty crazy, you'll never have a problem with it...


-jason

Another " I have used a ss with only a front brake and been fine " post.

2+ years, no problems. Ridden in boston winters, heavy traffic, etc. If you know how to modulate the front brake's power, and don't just grab a fistful of brake in a panic situation you won't have any problems with endoing.

However, that bike is now fixed, so no more ss for me.

I think sheldon also says something about a front brake being the most effective way to stop a bike, and the rear is useless or something.

EDIT: Here's sheldon's take on the subject:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

To quote sheldon:

"The fastest that you can stop any bike of normal wheelbase is to apply the front brake so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off the ground. In this situation, the rear brake cannot contribute to stopping power, since it has no traction."

Yeah that's it, lock up the rear wheel in a turn - tell us how it went (photos of "strawberries" gets you extra pts.)

The real reason is because a front brake only is well suited to providing primary stopping power in a straight line on solid footing. When you're in a corner or steering and you need to brake or you need to brake on an uncertain surface, then it's very good to have control over the rear wheel as well.


yep ... i road a SS with front brake only for a while and never had a problem until i tried to brake while navigating a bunch of gravel at around 15mph. not quite sure what happened next but i came to on my back and, 9 months later, my wrist hurts when its about to rain. I should mention that this was on a very old and VERY slack road bike so it really took some doing to pull off an endo with it.

All that being said, if you don't skid and depend on your front brake for most of your stopping needs, are your knees really in that much danger? I seem to remember someone saying that the constant motion of a fixed gear was actually good for your knees as long as you wen't trying to stop with them too. Where are those folks with the medical smarts?

Why not keep the bike fixed and only use the front brake for slowing down, just like you would be doing if you were to have a freewheel and no rear brake. But at least you will have the backup option to slow using your legs, just avoid it as much as possible.

Also if you are worried about knees, then lower you gear ratio as well, that will help them on the starts as well as with any slowing you may use your legs for.

Al

I tried so hard with the search function to find a great hijack for this thread with that rap that I think that dude trackfresh did a long time ago. That was the true track bike brake down.

I agree with noisebeam, simply keep the frointbrakefixie setup and lower your gearing. Spinning more helps the knees, so dem say.

You say a disc brake-do you have that on the front already? If so, I wouldn't hesitate to make it SS at all, but where I live is pretty flat. I'm another that's been running just a front brake-I swapped the fork for one with canti studs so I run a retro as hell cantilever brake. I haven't been doing it all that long, but it works really, really well.

everything fails. don't leave the house... wait... houses can fail too. noose it is. crap, rope fails. it's hopeless and ropeless.

I was just trying to say it's nice to have a back up. But I agree with Bostontrevor in regards to braking. It's much more efficient and effective to brake in a straight line. In turn you'll be able to carry more corner speed through then if you late brake, upset the handling of the bike, and try to make up the difference on the exit. Plus when you're riding in adverse conditions like snow front brakes can be more of a pain then help.

Alright -- so if I'm going to stay with the fixie and the front brake, then what do I need to think about in terms of gearing to increase my spin and decrease the strain on my knees when starting from a trackstand or dead stop? My gearing right now is 48x17, which is what the bike came stocked at. I've never had any problem (and to be fair, I've never really noticed any knee pain), I'm just concerned that my riding may be damaging my knees slowly over time and I'm just not noticing it yet.

I'm a strong rider, and generally have no trouble riding at my present gearing. What should I change it to though, so that I don't have too dramatic a drop in overall efficiency, but so that I can rest easier thinking about my knees?

Thanks!

maybe try 48:18? i've always run 48:16 on my fixies for around town... though lately i've been commuting at 48:14 to get me ready for track season. anyways, i had built a single speed for my brother and used 45:17, which is a 71.4 gear inch. it felt so great! it felt fast and not too spinny. 48:18 is a 72 gear inch. i'm going to change my peugeot to that one of these days... when i don't have five million other bike projects pissing me off.

What makes you believe that you're damaging your knees? Perhaps you're actually strengthening muscles riding fixed that you wouldn't coasting, giving yourself a more robust, muscular, sexy, and evenly developed leg/knee/thigh/glute/hip flexor/etc. I think if you worry about something you should worry about the CIA, the extinction of the family owned farm, and gamma radiation.