Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Front bike or not

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View Full Version : Front bike or not


Chris32
09-17-05, 08:33 PM
Hey guys i need some help. I have a ss mt bike and i am thinking about taking off the front brake and use just the back. Disc brakes. Most of the trails that i ride are flat but very rough. Any ss mt bikers out there just use your back brake or is it a safety issue. Let me know. And feel free to post your bikes.
Thanks
Chris


zelah
09-17-05, 08:35 PM
oh my lol

wasabiboys
09-17-05, 08:38 PM
Back brake only is like a bmx.....hills watch out!


Santaria
09-17-05, 08:38 PM
I'd run that SS with no brakes, so you can be in the cool crowd.

christiank
09-17-05, 08:43 PM
Probably not the best idea. On any bike the front brake provides most of the braking power.

bostontrevor
09-17-05, 09:05 PM
As a sometimes off-road single speeder, this sounds like a bad idea. Not only do you want to be able to modulate braking to both the front and rear, but if you only have the rear brake available, you'll tend to skid much more frequently.

That's not cool.

sbornia
09-17-05, 10:17 PM
as christiank said, above, the front brake provides most of your stopping power -- i believe it's around 70%. and while disc brakes resist fade pretty well, they get VERY hot if you have to stop the entire bike with only one...that single, fading brake will not be very effective if you do have to get down a longer/steeper hill.

bostontrevor
09-18-05, 06:26 AM
I love it when people trot out the "your front brake provides n% of your stopping power" thing because I have no idea where it came from or how it came to be so authoritative.

Properly adjusted and used, your front brake provides 100% of your stopping power. Use search in this forum for the physics behind that.

The real issue is that offroad, you will skid much more readily and two braking wheels can distribute that braking load and avoid skidding which both puts you out of control and damages the trail. You also will want to give your arms a rest on long descents and being able to switch up braking hands allows this.

Feltup
09-18-05, 06:30 AM
How can you go fast without front brakes?

zelah
09-18-05, 06:36 AM
i like how the non-typo'd thread got left behind in favor of the "front bike" one

Chris32
09-18-05, 08:18 AM
Thanks for all your help. I guess what i need to do is go buy the bracket that i lost so i can mount my front brake back on to my rigid fork. I had a sus. fork on my single speed and it just was way to heavyso i am putting the rigid fork back on, as it is the bianchi sass is 25.5lbs rigid fork and like 29.5 with a manitou axel fork. I hope my lbs has the bracket.

pitboss
09-18-05, 09:35 AM
ditch the bike, just run around making noises.
you shouldn't need a brake for that at all.