Originally Posted by YellowFixedGear
I don't care if I lose some cool points for having a front brake. I ride fixed. I ride fixed in NYC. Im not on a track. Cars and cabs hate us. **** happens, sometimes too fast for just our legs and shift of body movement to react. I have a wife to go home to. Let me tell you, adding the front brake has helped me to make it home to her at nite.
You got it right!!! No brakes is fine for those cases where you have time to (see and) react. When something happens too quickly, no way you can be in position to stop. At best, you can veer but in some cases that would do you in. I ride with a front brake and when when I'm in traffic, my finger is over the brake.
P.S. have yet to see someone going 45 mph, especially on a fixed. They don't go that fast on the track.
The road racers at Prospect Park don't go that fast on the downhill.
The rpms would be insane.