Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - keirin brake?

I run a front brake on my other bike, but, these keirin front brake kits are about $80. The rear brakes are about half the price, but should I just save up and get the front brake instead? I've never used a rear brake on a fixed gear.

Also, anyone have some home made pictures/instructions of some clamps? It doesn't look super hard to make, and it'd save me a bit of cash. I've got some spare brakes lying around.

Your feet are the rear brakes on a fixed gear.

I run the front Dia-Compe kit. The rear ones looks like janky single pivot brakes, while the $80 kit is much nicer quality, not to means better engineering (dual pivot). The bracket is pretty stable too.

A rear brake on a fixed gear is pretty much useless since you can slow down the rear wheel with your legs. Even on a road bike with both brakes, the front brakes always creates most of the stopping power. It's the same concept in a car, that's why sports cars have much larger front discs.

You can read more about it on Sheldons site.

http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

is there two keirin brake kits? i only know the dia compe

i would say save up for the front, you will just look wonky w/ a back brake

what the farck is a keirin brake? pics plz?!

http://www.kolumbus.fi/tero_penttinen/contents/media/l_dsc00436_106_detail.jpg
For when your track bike doesn't have brake mounts...

My conversion frame came has dia compe brakes with njs stamps, are they keirin?

edit: actually no, they are stamped with a logo that looked similar in my head but isnt in real life. Reel sorry guyz!

Ill take a photo when i get home anyway, would like to know what it is/means..

pics or it aint true[
QUOTE=Thriller!;6758707]My conversion frame came has dia compe brakes with njs stamps, are they keirin?[/QUOTE]

jis?

probably in a circle right?

yeah, they are similar. have an old sunshine hubs with that in it.

ive got a front keirin brake on one of my bikes that isn't the dia compe one. if i recall correctly it might be kalavinka(?) or something like that. it is the same one that was for sale on the njsframes.blogspot website a while back, although i got mine through CL.

jis?

probably in a circle right?

yeah, they are similar. have an old sunshine hubs with that in it.

Yep thats the one. Haha i was quite excited for the few minutes until i actually checked me bike. :o

Yep thats the one. Haha i was quite excited for the few minutes until i actually checked me bike. :o

I was really surprised the first time I saw it on the hubs too as they were...


quick release :lol:

gehrkhead and Thriller, toss up some pics of your kits. Are these rare alternatives to the standard keirin brake kit any different, maybe better in some way?

And has anyone ever seen the clamp-on bracket sold on its own, without caliper or lever?

there are a couple different front brake clamp on sets. Dia-Compe is the easiest to get a hold of. Kalavinka made brackets too, and would mount regular Shimano calipers on them. the third I know of if waaay overbuilt and sort of odd looking but neat in a Rocket-Man retro-future kind of way. but it was super pricey. there was also a rear set.


personally, a back brake on a fixed gear isn't my favorite. I am so used to using my legs to slow down that even when I am not intending to leg-brake when I use the back brake I end up locking up the back wheel far too easily. rear-brake only and fixed def. takes some getting used to, and if a front brake is an option, I think it is a much better one.

...but old-school keirin-wise, the back brake was the first go to when adding one. it is easier to add/remove than a front for road rides home from the velodrome. but there are vintage-ish front brake kits too.

I went with the Dia-compe rear brake on my 3Rensho at first because it seemed keirin "correct" but it doesn't really have any serious stopping power. I think track riders use them just to make their bikes legal on the road. I finally got the front brake adaptor (actually a set with a cheap Dia-compe brake) and added a Shimano Ultegra brake. Now with that and rear leg braking, I feel confident I can stop in just about any situation.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/gbarchus/3Rensho1.jpg

I have the front kits in black or silver for oval or round forks for $79 shipped for forum members....

shipped, that ain't a bad deal! I can say I am very happy with mine.

(as long as he is talking about the BRS-101 dual pivot combo not the single pivot)

I'm sure that's not a bad deal, but if I've already got a caliper and lever to use, it seems worth my time to take a crack at making a bracket myself. If the prefab bracket was reported to work amazingly (it's not, from what I've read), my opinion could be different.

Now, time to make a friend with access to a CNC machine.

rad. make one and post it up! there are pics of the Kalavinka brackets on their site too.

I am totally happy with my pre-fab bracket (for the front, anyway), but don't let that stop the creation!