Originally Posted by tehz
i dont run brakes, but i make sure i see exactly where i'm going to be in the next 5/10/whatever feet, and if i cant, i slow down. and so far i've only been in one serious accident, and it was because someone ran a stoplight and side swiped me, not because i couldnt stop in time
And this in most cases is what causes bicycle accidents - the other party, whether pedestrian, obstacle or driver. Your skillz are irrelevent when someone walks in front of you w/o looking; or a car makes a turn from the center lane of a three lane road and cuts you off while you have legal right to the right or left lane. Your skillz can only minimize the damage, with or w/o brakes.