Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Brakes Or No Brakes? Toe Clips, Flats Or Clipless??

this thread will start an almost innumerable amount of arguments.but its fun. and they are constructive. and obviously, you cant say, "brakes or no brakes mate?" on a roadie or mtb thread. i mean, you could, but they would stare. hard.

for me-
brakes: nothing
pedals: clips with double straps


and would you guys ever RACE fixie cross? ive seen people do it, and theyre insanely fast. people have blown by me like im an old guy with white hair.

I really hope I'm the first and last person that posts on this thread.

and would you guys ever RACE fixie cross? ive seen people do it, and theyre insanely fast. people have blown by me like im an old guy with white hair.
I haven't raced, but I've ridden courses fixed and it seems totally disadvantageous compared to SS. Cooler perhaps, in the same way that you'd be cooler if you were owning people from a schwinn varsity. But no performance advantage.

no brakes
clips with laminated rubber straps

Front brake cos o my knees and my wife and kid (okay, and my nerves...you got me, hardcore). Cheap pedals with nylon straps cos I hate sounding like a tap dancer in SPD shoes. No racing anywhere a license is required.

Oh, and I love reading arguments on this board. So thanks.

Allow me to summarize the usual conversations in these areas and just get it over with:

brakes:
bro 1: brakes are for *******!
bro 2: ever kicked a chain on a gnarley hill? that'll change your mind
bro 1: there are no brakes in the velodrome!
bro 3: I got kids man, a brake is the responsible thing to do
bro 4: oh my god, i so feel the brakeless zen!
bro 2: I can ride faster with a brake than I can without
bro 1: i don't need to brake, i avoid!
bro 3: its easy to avoid stuff when you're walking your new pista through the hip part of town, poser!
bro 1: i've been riding fixed for ten years, punk. brakes add weight, cloud the simplicity of my ride, and I don't need them to stop my bike.
roadie: my bike has two brakes, three chainrings, two derailleurs, and a whole cassette out back and it still weighs less than your pos conversion!

clips/clipless:

bro 1: if you were a serious cyclist you'd ride clipless. clips are inefficient.
bro 2: and by serious you mean i only ride when i slap my $3000 bike on the old station wagon and drive it to the park on sunday to do a couple hot laps? I ride everywhere man, I can't always be wearing cycling shoes. you think i want to show up to the bar in my sidis?
bro 1: there are plenty of cycling shoes out there that look like street shoes.
bro 3: click clack, click clack!!!!
bro 1: you're wasting so much effort and efficiency, you can barely even pull the pedal through the back of your stroke!
bro 4: blah blah blah unclip at inopportune time blah blah
bro 3: yeah! blah blah blah fell over at stoplight blah blah
bro 5: GR9's work great with my chucks!!!!
bro 6: sylvans put holes in my vans!!!!
bro 7: I'll use whatever those keirin guys are usin'!!!

Wait, I forgot:

bro 5: As Bacon goes, so shall I...Brakeless!!!
bro 6: If I run a brake I'll have to get that ugly silver ring machined on my pink deep v's!
bro 7: I USED to ride brakeless, until my knees EXPLODED!!!!

i thought this thread was worthless. then i laughed.
now it can be closed.

good one

Back to the fixed cross thing. Yeah, I also have never raced cross. I ride fixed on the road, ride SS mountain. I have toyed with the idea of fixed off road, but it does actually seem like overkill (stated otherwise, I am afraid). Those riders were blowin by you though, huh? I am about to build up an SS cross bike, and folks I work with race. I am not sure I see the advantage of fixed gear for cross...anyone?

i think that any cycling discipline where gravity is a significant factor is probably unsuited for fixed gear

Train on fixed gear to be as strong as those guys. Race on a real cross bike to beat them.

An organized cross race would allow no brakes and fixed gear in the race? Not likely.

An organized cross race would allow no brakes and fixed gear in the race? Not likely.


Thats why someone needs to hold their own with lots of video cameras. I would watch a brakeless cross race. It would be hilarious.


Be prepared to get a few pedals to the shins as your work on you fg remounts too.

Fixie - 1984 Ciocc, Columbus SLX frame
Brakes: front and rear baby
Handlebar tape: check
Pedals: Crank Bros Candy SL and Lake MX101 shoes and I wear em to work
Bike weight: about 20lb exactly with rear rack fitted

Front brake, clipless for me.

Don't think either will change, ever.
(You should have made this a poll. Sorta interesting, but this thread was sure to get too silly to be informative.)

nothing says "I'm a bike dork" like the road shoe tap dance.

You think carrying a u-lock in your rear pocket gets you street cred? Pfff, stupid newbies, the bike ladies line up everywhere when I walk in sounding like a cowboy at the 7-11 in my Shimanos.

front brake
gr-9's w/ clips & straps

You think carrying a u-lock in your rear pocket gets you street cred? Pfff, stupid newbies, the bike ladies line up everywhere when I walk in sounding like a cowboy at the 7-11 in my Shimanos.
Are those NJS spurs?

Mavfac Racer front brake...MKS pedals with no clips or straps..yet!

I'm shopping around and I only ride to class and around town a little bit so I don't miss being clipped in/tied down.

**** all yall, no brakes, i ride on the spindles, ****s

Are those NJS spurs?

It's funny, Japanese car guys are all into being "JDM", meaning having all Japanese manufactured car parts, eg: Greddy/HKS/Apexi/Mugen/Spoon/Jun/RS Kakimoto/Espilir/anything out of Option 2/etc etc etc.... The smaller the manufacturer (IE Some japanese guy with a welder and some tube making an exhaust system under the name of BRIGHT LIGHTS YOSHIMOTO GARAGE = MUCH MORE JDM than a Greddy (a much bigger company's) setup), and I always thought that I could escape that scene with bikes, but keirin proved me 100% wrong.

Haha, right on. I saw some article about the current Japanese fixed scene recently. It looked remarkably like the Sport Compact and Super Street articles that were coming out in 01' about this "new" thing called drifting.

You think carrying a u-lock in your rear pocket gets you street cred? Pfff, stupid newbies, the bike ladies line up everywhere when I walk in sounding like a cowboy at the 7-11 in my Shimanos.


hahahahha

I don't care what other people ride or don't ride and I'm sure they feel the same about me. Just don't ride like an ***hole or get yourself killed because you can't control your bike.

nothing says "I'm a bike dork" like the road shoe tap dance.

You think carrying a u-lock in your rear pocket gets you street cred? Pfff, stupid newbies...

I have to admit, I have the lock holder that came with that my U-lock on my bike.. sure it looks kinda ****ty but I find that **** useful sometime! and it's not like I have an $800 bike that I'm making look bad or scratching...

the bike ladies line up everywhere when I walk in sounding like a cowboy at the 7-11 in my Shimanos.

yo, which 7-11 is this? suddenly I need a slurpie

front brake & straps. Why not?

It's funny, Japanese car guys are all into being "JDM", meaning having all Japanese manufactured car parts, eg: Greddy/HKS/Apexi/Mugen/Spoon/Jun/RS Kakimoto/Espilir/anything out of Option 2/etc etc etc.... The smaller the manufacturer (IE Some japanese guy with a welder and some tube making an exhaust system under the name of BRIGHT LIGHTS YOSHIMOTO GARAGE = MUCH MORE JDM than a Greddy (a much bigger company's) setup), and I always thought that I could escape that scene with bikes, but keirin proved me 100% wrong.

You can leave that whole thing, just ignore it.

Although... being on bikeforums doesn't help much.

clipless platform style pedals w/ front brake

for me-
brakes: front
pedals: clipless

clipless brakeless.

is this thread going anywhere? it's definitely making me want some GR-9s though.

gr-9 w/ ghetto double straps brakeless and superbe pro with kashimax brakeless

cant help it if my damn frames dont got no holes.

i ride platforms, breakless, in high heels. i'm equal parts thugg as fu(k and transvestite.

i know, it's weird for me too.

The only argument that hasnt been posted, is that i cant find a front brake that will work on my 27--> 700c conversion.

The only argument that hasnt been posted, is that i cant find a front brake that will work on my 27--> 700c conversion.
That's because you can gank a centerpull off of a garbage bike and the brake will fit.

I ride with full hydrolic disk brakes my own custum clipless pedals which use use an electromagnet, no seat and a dynamo (for the electromagnet).

those must suck for standing starts.

brakes: nope
pedals: clips

started breakless for the fear factor and so old ladies on the subway can yell at me about it. might go clipless soon. if so i'll prolly put the brake back on til i stop falling over.

Brakes - yes
Pedals - mostly clips and straps.

I do have a bike with platforms and no straps, for station commutes. I don't want clips messing up my smart work shoes, plus, they're kind of a long design, and my toes don't reach the end - murder with clips. I have quill pedals on too many of my bikes, and with wide feet, they kill me. I really want GR-9's, but I'm aware that I need 3-4 pairs, and so somehow, that stops me from buying any......

That's because you can gank a centerpull off of a garbage bike and the brake will fit.

Tried that first, after i striped the frame, i put a friends wheel on, and this oooooooold center pull i found but it wasnt quite long enough, i did see one that was defenitely long on a bike recently, but the ratio is fine for stopping with my legs. Though i think the next street bike i build will have brakes, especialy if i go with a steeper ratio.

I know people who ride fixed with platforms (and brakes) but i cant understand riding brakeless with out clips/straps or clipless.

Dremel the slots to get those pads down then!

started breakless for the fear factor and so old ladies on the subway can yell at me about it. might go clipless soon. if so i'll prolly put the brake back on til i stop falling over.

what does it matter if you take your bike on the subway?

I've gone pedalless with a front clip on my shoulder.
Al

Well I suppose we all ride in different ways and for different reasons. And the fact is those reasons change all the time. Some set ups look more flash, some ride better, some are pretty, some are stupid and some are well, less stupid.
These are all choices and the only mistake is making an uninformed choice.
The fact is that we are all involved in a sport that has become a nexus of cultural heirarchy, fashion, mechanical innovation, and athletics.

Very messy.

I recommend that "bitpartinyrlife" is brilliant and that his code be remembered and carved into tablets for all to see and refernce so that every silly conversation about track bikes and fashion can be addressed with a numerical reference like that old joke about the prisoners telling jokes by number.

and thus we move forward.

Doshkel,
I know what you mean.
But, you can also see this whole pattern and maybe help to move past it with a recognition of where it comes from. There are tastemakers in every community.
NJS stuff can be pretty, but it is not made for street riding.

You can choose to ride it, but why.
Folks will say it is because of the quality.
But to a certain extent it is fashion.

Roland from ReLoad is a really nice guy. For that reason he is also influential. Becasue of that his love of obscure Japanese racing stuff became everyones love of obscure japanese racing stuff.

A friend of wanted all the blingiest stuff for their bike, and so spent as much as possible short of a faberge paintjob or a goldplated hubs. Suddenly all the gear that went on the bike set the bar for what a respectable bike should have. Which sucks because the law of diminishing returns functions with merciless efficiency in these worlds. The expensive parts are nice, but only incremently better than the good stuff. Generally fixie riders are young and don't have tons of money, it is sad to see them getting hooked into consumer culture. They feel they need to get the expensive stuff.

Why? I suggest that is due to fashion and all the other mechanisms of consumer culture.

There is a certain anti-materialistic sentiment often associated with the urban fixie culture.
I would like to see it working its magic on our community.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/20/130535.php

Newdream.org

With all this talk of fashion and such, I gotta' ask.Isn't riding brakeless just fashion? I'm not judging anybody here, ride how/what you want, but I've never heard an actual FUCTIONAL reason for riding brakeless. I rode brakeless for a long time, and I know you can stop and all that crap, even now that I ride with one I allmost never use it. But can somebody please tell me why it would be fuctionally better to ride sans brake?

PS: Same for helmets. If not because you care how it looks, why?

With all this talk of fashion and such, I gotta' ask.Isn't riding brakeless just fashion? I'm not judging anybody here, ride how/what you want, but I've never heard an actual FUCTIONAL reason for riding brakeless. I rode brakeless for a long time, and I know you can stop and all that crap, even now that I ride with one I allmost never use it. But can somebody please tell me why it would be fuctionally better to ride sans brake?

The argument I've heard is that it makes you a better rider. But as you point out, just cause you have one, doesn't mean you need to use it, in fact it takes more discipline to ride with a break and never use it, even in emergency situations.
Al

With all this talk of fashion and such, I gotta' ask.Isn't riding brakeless just fashion?

of course it's more then fashion it's proof that you are a real man not just some pansy ass ****.

With all this talk of fashion and such, I gotta' ask.Isn't riding brakeless just fashion? I'm not judging anybody here, ride how/what you want, but I've never heard an actual FUCTIONAL reason for riding brakeless. I rode brakeless for a long time, and I know you can stop and all that crap, even now that I ride with one I allmost never use it. But can somebody please tell me why it would be fuctionally better to ride sans brake?

PS: Same for helmets. If not because you care how it looks, why?

I'd say yes it is fashion, if you define fashion very-very loosely. (plus some peeps want to ride their fancy track forks and can't/don't want to drill them)

Helmet is a different story. For example, wearing one hurts my neck like it gets paid for it. (My neck hurts enough as it is...) Also gets HOT and generally bothersome.

Hmm... guess I didn't take into account real track forks. As far as helmets hurting your neck, hey I don't doubt it. I'm not saying they should be manditory or anything, hell I don't like wearing one but I do anyway. At the end of the day it's up to you what you do, I was just wondering about fuctional reasons not to use a brake. And maybe fashion wasn't the correct word, but I think you get the jist of what I'm saying.