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fthomas
08-12-08, 11:57 PM
I am amazed at the number of young people (guessing 16 - 25) I see riding around here at night with no lights - front or back, no helmet and no brakes on the SS or Fixies. A disaster looking to happen!
A young guy I met at the LBS has been ticketed for running into a car that pulled out in front of him making a left and he smashed into the drivers door breaking the window and denting the door badly. Fixie with no brakes. He was cited as the cause of the accident for not having brakes.
The no brakes ticket is BS. If he was riding at night without a headlight, then he deserved a ticket for that and should pay for the damages.
PS: Are you really sure you see guys on a SS with no handbrakes (I really doubt that).
Rick@OCRR
08-13-08, 07:41 AM
Yes CB HI, I'm sure fthomas is sure and I'm sure too. No brakes on fixed gear bikes (from NY to CA and lots of points in between) is quite common.
When I ride my fixed gear bike I usually (90% of the time approx.) slow and stop with without using the brakes. While slowing, when the pedals some around, I just push "back" on them, i.e. a "back-pedaling" motion (though they still come around). So in the vast majority of instances, hand-brakes are not necessary. SS (single-speed) bikes are sometimes the freewheel sort, and yes, those always have brakes of some kind.
That said, I keep brakes on my fixed gear bike, front and rear. It's also quite common for fixed gear bikes to have a front brake only. In the interest of self-preservation, and with the knowledge that Panic stops happen, I have both brakes operational!
The joys of riding fixed gear have been discussed at length in other threads, so I won't go into that part here!
I should also add that I've been on night rides with some of these fixed gear "kids" (early 20's mostly) and they're really great riders, good people, and manage to ride safely, even without brakes, most of the time. "Most" of the time, for sure, is not "All" the time, and those times cause the problems fthomas noted!
Rick / OCRR
fthomas
08-13-08, 10:01 AM
I have no personal opinion about brakes on a fix gear as I have never ridden one. The problem stems from California Statutes that require a bicycle to have a brake. If the FG riders would just put a brake on the front it would keep them legal and the young man I spoke about would not have been ticketed as being the cause of the accident and the car driver would have been, which is actually correct. The car driver would have been ticketed for failing to yield if the other vehicle had been a car or in this case a bike with a brake.