cc700

after half an alleycat's worth of using my brake for the steep declines and bad traffic situations, my knees are telling me to use it way more. I use it a lot but i feel like when i want to slow down and there's no immediate danger i just backpedal.

Sixty Fiver

"Let's face it, you don't need a brake on a fg, but it is nice having one. It really depends on your skill and how many risks you take."

Just so we don't get into another endless debate on brakes vs brakeless I'll say that I need a brake on my FG bikes for many reasons and would never saddle up a fixed gear without one unless I was at the track.

I'd consider myself a highly skilled rider who has logged more than a few miles on nearly every kind of bike on nearly every kind of terrain in every kind of weather.

I do tend to ride fairly fast and my usual cruising speed on my commuter is in the low to mid twenties and if I drop the hammer and wind things up I can easily exceed 30 mph on flat ground.

This year was the first where I have been in any vehicle related accidents... I got clipped by a mirror when I was riding my FG road bike and got knocked into a massive pothole. If I had used the brake I may not be here as hitting the pothole almost sent me OTB and I ended up doing a front wheelstand through and out the other side of the pothole. I think I can say that mountain biking saved my life here as I practice this very thing on a regular basis.

The other happened when I was riding my coaster equipped club bike and had a woman in a car dart in front of me and I ended up broadsiding her car... I skidded 10 feet and had slowed down considerably by the time my wheel met her car door but the impact was still enough to damage my fork and knock my bars out of line. A bike with a front brake would have been able to stop with room to spare.

This afternoon's project is to fit a front brake to my coaster bike because being able to stop faster and with more control is always a good thing.

ahand

i use it when i want to. skip/skid when i want to.

Gurgus

My conversion had a front brake only. My Paddywagon came with two brakes and I think its gonna stay that way. My knees like it better, plus I don't want to be messing up the nice Formula hub by skidding like I almost did to my first fixed. I'm too lame to buy cool with no brakes. If I end up with a velodrome only track bike, that is a different story.

Mtbnomore

Whenever I have to stop.

666pack

lately i've taken to riding to class in whatever shoes i'm most comfortable in for sitting in class over a few hours. this means i don't really ever strap in anymore as i mostly wear big chunky skate shoes. so lately i've been braking a lot since i'm not strapped in.

but when i wear shoes that fit in my toe clips better i usually ride brakeless.

mander

+2, the tektros are one of my favorite bike products ever

acoldspoon

I don't have a front brake on my track bike, it came from the factory drilled for a rear brake only. The rear brake I use all the time. I modulate speed with my legs, I stop with my brake. I use nice sew-ups, and wouldn't dream of skidding on them. If I bike doesn't have a working brake caliper, I don't get on it. Screw fashion, I was riding fixed before some of you were born.

PS- I do have have an all black version of this on the way to me from Japan right now to make my ride even more enjoyable. It clamps on to undrilled round track forks.

doubleoh2

I use it when coming down a big hill, just to wash off speed, and also in potential emergencies.

mathletics

I'm really into braking right now, so I've been grabbing the brake whenever I want to slow down, even from a slow cruise to a crawl. I don't do any of the work with my legs.

lamalex

Mine's an e-brake. I like skipping/skidding. I usually use cadence to stop and slow down though. I think the only time my front brake has been used is this weekend my buddy wanted to try riding fixed. I keep it on there as an insurance policy, you never know when your hub is going to strip or your chain is going to pop off.

asherlighn

Indeed

eddiec33

brakes hahahahahahaha

iamarapgod

i only use it when i want to stop

nateintokyo

cool, glad you went for one of these.

I have one on the Venus (but with a bmx lever) and it works wonderfully.

darksiderising

What is all this nonsense of brakes making you faster?

Just don't stop.

Issue settled.

acoldspoon

Glad to hear it. Mine should reach NYC in a few days.

sixfive

this is exactly what I do.

dobber

I seem to have misplaced my notepad, the one on which I've kept careful records of the time and condition of use.

viper_04649

always in the rain! even though it is fun skidding about 20 ft past the stop line.

piwonka

a front brake is smart. you don't NEED it on a fixed wheel but it is safer. riding is also less work if you have a brake, so yes, you will be faster with a brake. you can also ride higher gears if you have a brake because you don't HAVE to use your legs to control your speed.

i had a nice Faggin road frame i converted to FG, it was awesome geometry but just a little too big for me. i ended up selling it to a guy that was a bmx'er and wanted a bike to get around town. well, i didn't have a brake on it, i showed him how to do hops and skids but stressed that he needed a brake for atleast a few months. well, i guess he didn't do that because i heard he crashed that bike twice. it's hanging up in the LBS right now needing top and down tubes replaced. poor frame, i shoulda put gears back on it and kept it.

i've had a few close calls that could've been avoided if i could've stopped really fast...like had a front brake on bike kinda fast stopping. a front brake is smart.

Oh No

Zombie Apocalypse blows.