Originally Posted by
thedapperest
I feel like there's some bikes where you should just not put a brake on, high end and vintage bikes where either the frame or stock fork was not drilled to accept a brake.
Those would be Track bikes: designed for operation on a Velodrome.
As an operator of such a machine "back when" what is now Vintage was New here's a fact about riding FG on the street from decades ago.
In our club we had a machinist who, for a modest fee, would cleanly and accurately drill track bike forks for a front brake for winter FG base miles on the road.
Knowing that the steep descents, potholes and left-turning busses which are very rare on the track are quite common on open public roads we fitted front brakes for road miles.
Shocking that we paid no attention to what has become obsession of fashion today that is a clear mis-representation of what Old School FG cycling was back when for serious club riders.
-Bandera