Originally Posted by
Kilroy1988
Everything I've seen in photos suggests that few or no riders of the big road racing events at the turn of the century used brakes, and of course Maurice Garin's original winning bike is still around and doesn't seem to have been equipped with any... But apparently Bowden-cable brakes were available to be used at the time. Neither of the bikes these guys use in the video seem to perfectly resemble the mounts from 1903, but I'm sure they probably performed similarly for the purpose of the experiment!
-Gregory
There you go, I stand corrected. I thought it was later.
But as you also mention, all of the road bikes I have seen from the teens, 10+ years later, either have no brakes or the type that presses down on the fun tire.