Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Brake lever on top tube?

I have seen a few people do this, and i recently got my friend to do it. it actually looks kinda cool, and makes you realize how little you actually need to use your brake on a fixed gear, yet its still there if you really need it. any thoughts on this? on a bunch of steel frames, you can simply clamp something like a cross interrupter onto the to tube, or you can glue/tape a standard road or bmx lever on.

I can see someone reaching for that in a pinch and flying over their bars with ease.

we've discussed this, we dont like it

i recently got my friend to do it
He seduced your significant other? Really low way to take revenge, if you ask me.

Worst idea ever. It's not really there when you need it.

dont listen to these people.. its a fine place for a lever...and you dont flyover the bars on a fixed gear like you do wirh a freewheel.. and if youre running drops..especially track drops.. one road lever is, like, so tacky

you dont flyover the bars on a fixed gear like you do wirh a freewheel..

Ummm, .... you do.

no dude. mount it on the teh seatpost.

I have one mounted on the seat tube and another on the chain stays. That way if one fails I always have a backup.

Ummm, .... you do.

umm...actually you don't

its been explained a bajillion times.. yes, bajillion

haha, where? I wanna laugh.

it looks pretty cool there on the top tube. i think it would look cooler if you surgically implanted it on your forearm. right or left, depending on your personal preferance.

we've discussed this, we dont like it

+infinity

they should make handheld brake levers... you know? put it in your pocket till you need it. I guess you could just mount a bmx lever to a 4" piece of pipe. yeah, I'm gonna try it.

how about wireless. that would be sweet. it could be used like a bait bike.

And invisible cable and housing! Maybe fishing line and transparent rubber tubes? I think We're on to something here!
*excited*

yet its still there if you really need it. any thoughts on this?

This is just ridiculous:

A) Because there are better places to put the brake lever.

and

B) Because there are better places to put the brake lever.

They just need to make a remote controlled brake caliper. Keep the remote in your messenger bag, then when you're in a pinch, you can unclip the sternum strap, swing the bag around, rummage through the 1,000 cubic feet of junk and 10 pockets, find the remote, and hope the batteries aren't dead.

all the while drinking a pbr.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2006/may/JohnReger-1.jpg

Now that's how it's done.

I knew a guy who had his brake setup on his stem like that.
******.

If you're going to run brakes, why on earth would you
put there where you cannot reach them in an emergency?
What is the reasoning?

OP must not like his friend very much

i had one on my stem for a while.

The biggest problem that I see with this is that, if you need it, you are in an emergency situation and you have to take one hand off the bars. So now you're frantically trying to stop, and you have less control of the bike. At least with a small lever near the stem on drop bars or bullhorns you still have both hands on the bar and have a chance of keeping the bike under control.

wait.. top tube..

thats stupid..

so stupid that i didnt even think that when i read it.. i thought you meant the top of the drop bars

also so stupid that you might be the type of person that even on a fixed gear, flips over the bars

so scratch all my earlier comments

If you're going to run brakes, why on earth would you
put there where you cannot reach them in an emergency?
What is the reasoning?

Cause its cool to be the only tard with an actual hand brake.. just like a car.

They should make brakes that you can mount on your handlebars so you don't have to reach somewhere else in an emergency.

They should make brakes that you can mount on your handlebars so you don't have to reach somewhere else in an emergency.


I hear they use to make those.. i saw a vintage bike at a garage sale set up like that...

I think I want a bike with a really long lever attached to a shifter boss on the downtube, like an old car handbrake, or maybe like the trolleys in SF.

They should make brakes that you can mount on your handlebars so you don't have to reach somewhere else in an emergency.

Yeah, right. Let me just bust out my Future-Man catalog and beam one here. Geez.

Next you are gonna say that I shouldn't have to get off my couch to change the channel on my TV.

Clean and just where it should be
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l283/frameteam2003/lingosfixyfrontend.jpg

stickerguy said (http://bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=2124092&postcount=1) it best

stickerguy said (http://bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=2124092&postcount=1) it best

Dude. "View Single Post" is the sh*t!

spud's still missing the point.

If you're going to go brakeless for aesthetic reasons, fine... your funeral / scars / life lesson. If you have the skills and the luck to go your entire life brakeless, good for you.

If you're going to put on a brake, make it functional. A brake on the TT the worst of both worlds. Too difficult to use when you need a brake the most, and goofy looking as hell.

I agree. If you are running an oh shizt brake, then make it so easy to get to that it is stupid.


p.s.

riding a real track bike makes you grow a penis, especially if you are a girl. (Breacks? what is that? did you crack your frame or something?)

p.p.s.

shellac-ed bar tape makes you man so much it hurts.

They should make brakes that you can mount on your handlebars so you don't have to reach somewhere else in an emergency.
Oh wait wait! They should also put little ratchets in the hub that allow me so stop this ****ing pedaling and just roll with the bike. That'd be cool! It's getting on my nerves.


BTW, Spud, how do you link to a single post?

also so stupid that you might be the type of person that even on a fixed gear, flips over the bars

so scratch all my earlier comments

Oh man, this is off-topic, but the other day I was
eating lunch with my brother is a reasonably hip
neighborhood near a big college campus, and this
hipster-looking fellow came around the corner on
his stock Biancha pista, with no brakes, the original
platform pedals, and the track drops flipped up like
your standard bum bars or poor man's cruiser. He
was merging into traffic and was just Fred Flintstoning
it the whole way. I tried to explain to my brother
what was so funny, but he doesn't really understand
bicycles beyond his 87 Haro.

spud's still missing the point.

schnee's still missing the point. this 'discussion' if you will is not changing any minds, people who think brake levers can only be mounted on the handlebars still think they can only be mounted on the handlebars, and those who think they can be mounted anywhere else still think they can be mounted anywhere else.

An original, novel and distinct bad idea is still a bad idea.

The central issue is this, while it is a very good idea to run a brake* it is silly to place it in a central or remote location. When you are braking you need to be in a position to be able to your body against the bike so that your mass is balanced behind the resistance (the braking wheel). Otherwise the inertia will cause you to go over the bars, jacknife or otherwise fall of your bike in an ugly way.

The brake lever should be mounted in a place where you can
1.reach it quick from a position where you might already have your hands.
2.be balanced when the bike is braking.

When you have one brake it is slightly problematic to have a standard lever because you weight goes out even further and over the wheel. Also it forces you to contend with a a number of aesthetic problems.
(what goes on the other side) and it can be annoying when you are using different bar treatments or even none.

Which is why those little cane creek levers mid-cable levers are so popular.
They can mounted in a central place, out of the way and yet can squeezed with full hand from the flat tops or with your thumb from the tops of the curves. They work equally well with pista and regular bars and can be easily swapped from bike to bike, removed and reinstalled.

I don't think there is a real difference between road and track bikes when it comes to going over the bars. I could not run a brake on my pursuit bike because I was already up over the wheel and my cernter of gravity was so low and forward that touching it would send my tumbling. (it got nicknamed the widowmaker).

You traditionally mount the lever on the left so that you don't develop dangerous habits that could plague you when you use a regular bike.


*it is good to run brake.
Despite all the cowboy attitude, the aesthetic logic and cool factor.

1.Safety when riding
2.Mechanical failure
3.Politics
4.Peer pressure.

1. While you can certainly stop a fixed gear with its transmission, it does not hurt to have a secondary brake. There is no downside. The weight is negligible, the aesthetics are flexible and the advantages are great.
2.When something goes wrong with the hub, cog, lockring, chain, pedals, chainring bolts, straps, clips, clipless pedals, shoes, ankles, knees, etc. It is important to have secondary brake. Particularly with the rise in fixie conversions it is important to have a number of independent systems to deal with a any potential failures in the parts which are not designed to handle the unique torque of a fixed gear.

3. Cyclists are already fighting for their rights across the country. However you might agree or disagree with the fairness of the laws relating to cycling, there are laws. We already break laws all day long, why endanger ourselves further and undermine all of the efforts to protect our rights by riding bikes that are illegal in regions where codes stipulate that all bikes must have a secondary independent brake. If cyclists can be villified as dangerous and irresponsible they will be and it will be used against us. We can be pushed off the roads. The mainstream road cyclists will not be protecting us b/c we will be isolated form them by the lack of brake. All it takes is a region alerting their officers that they can ticket us and being a DC native I can tell you, where money can be made from tickets, tickets will be issued.

4. Many things become standard when the leading folks in the community accept them . If you are cool please rest on your laurels. Make brakes a fashion. Make brakes normal. If you need to make it different, run a distinct housing or brake. (maybe the ball and chain type). Is anyone making a cool and distinct brake/lever combo? If not why? You could simply prepackage it, color anodized and all.

When I need to stop I use the biggest muscle in the human body, ... the gluteus maximus. I mount my brake lever up my arse. That way when I am amout to crash and ***** myself the clamping of my buttocks causes my frount brake to come on with such force that I can stop in an instant, hence averting disaster.

The top-tube is so played-out. I've my brake lever on the driveside chainstay.

good idea,remove the seat and mount the leaver on the post--when you need to brake lower your center of gravity and stop too!

When I need to stop I use the biggest muscle in the human body, ... the gluteus maximus. I mount my brake lever up my arse. That way when I am amout to crash and ***** myself the clamping of my buttocks causes my frount brake to come on with such force that I can stop in an instant, hence averting disaster.
Aww man, you beat me to it. The sphincter brake. Genius.

When I need to stop I use the biggest muscle in the human body, ... the gluteus maximus. I mount my brake lever up my arse. That way when I am amout to crash and ***** myself the clamping of my buttocks causes my frount brake to come on with such force that I can stop in an instant, hence averting disaster.


GAME OVER... thread CLOSED!! the win goes to TheBrick....

I still think an under-seat mounted brake letter would be the best. That way when a crash is imminent, what an observer would see is a cyclist with a scared sh!tless look in his great goggle eyes, grabbing his nuts and hanging on for dear life as he crashes into a door.

That would be awesome! I just hope someone is there with a video camera to capture it for posterity.

I personally use a harpoon shaft in an arrow quiver I wear on my back. It's real useful for getting your point across to unyielding drivers, and you can set your stopping distance depending on how much rope you use. All the really cool kids just loop the rope around their necks.

We have completely overlooked teh KEWLEST way to dismount. When approaching an intersection say oh **** and grab the lever and fly over the bars running. make sure you don't rip your girl's jeans or chrome messenger bag though.

how do you link to a single post?

Click on the post number on the top right.

I learn something new every day (http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=3259975&postcount=49). Thx.