Originally Posted by
mihlbach
Eh....I seriously doubt that brakeless FG riding has significantly contributed to turning any trail into a "rutted mess". Its pretty easy to ride singletrack with a FG riding brakeless, without skidding. Given the lower gear, its the one time when riding brakeless is really easy.
Anyway, having a brake or not (or even a freewheel or not) isn't necessarily going to effect how much someone skids. The bigger culprits are the newbs and clueless people who skid with a brake. These are usually the same people who widen the trails by riding around the ruts and mudholes made by the jerks who ride the trail when its muddy.
I'm just saying that at least from my experience riding the trails around here, you are going to be doing a lot of skidding and ripping up the trails (which will lead to accelerated erosion). Having a brake will most definitely effect how much you skid. Maybe if you have smooth gentle trails you can get away with running a brakeless MTB, but around here it would be a) Jackass and b) A good way to get yourself hurt - bad.