Originally Posted by
ianjk
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.
My argument was based more on quantity...there aren't a lot of FG singletrack riders out there and most of them are probably skilled and experienced enough to know to protect the trail. But I see your point, if there's a lot of steep and/or technical stuff a brake may be necessary just to keep things under control.
Its worth pointing out that riding a FG on an otherwise ho-hum trail can make that trail seem much more interesting, especially if its a really winding or hilly trail that demands a lot of speed modification with the DT. My rule of thumb is if most of the trail allows me to ride if fixed, with a good sense of flow and allowing me to control everything with the drivetrain, without using the brake, then I'll ride it fixed. If the trail starts to get too rough and technical...to the point that a brake is absolutely necessary, then I usually just ride it SS. I've tried riding rough-technical trails fixed, and while I can do it, it just seems annoying and tedious to me. I'd rather blast through the hard stuff as fast as I can on an SS, rather than *****foot through with a FG.