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.