Has anyone here read the book Bicycling Science ? It's by David Gordon Wilson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at MIT.


He goes REALLY deep into physics (WAY over my head) and explains exactly the laws of physics governing bicycles, why things work the way they work, etc, etc. We're talking, aerodynamics, rolling resistance of bearings and tires, BRAKING, steering and balancing, etc. He actually has a lot to say about rear-wheel-only braking, but I don't have the mental capacity right now to transcribe, and there is NO way I'm going to try to paraphrase.



As for me, I'm aware that the faster one can decellerate/accellerate, the faster one actually travels in the real world. When you have a brake, your decelleration time is faster, and you don't have to hold back as much speed to ride safely. What this means is that one is able to go faster because one does not have to allow as much time/room to decellerate. It's fairly plain in terms of simple physics that SKIDDING IS NOT STOPPING. When you are skidding, it means you have passed the tire's ability to adhere to the road, so you're NOT slowing down as fast as you would if you weren't skidding. That goes for ALL types of skidding. If the tire is not adhereing to the road, you just plain AREN'T slowing down as fast as you would be if you had consistent braking applied to a point short of skidding. By the very nature of how braking works, skipping and skidding are not capable of decellerating safely at the same speed as a bike with proper brakes that is braking properly. It seems to me that it's rather unintelligent to limit the speed at which one can safely travel if the point is to get somewhere in a hurry.


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The reason that races exist that are specifically brakeless is that brakeless people don't have the same chance of winning a race that isn't specifically made to their advantage, given equal speed and strength in riders. Furthermore, if the people who don't normally ride brakeless decide to race in such a race they remove their brakes and ride in a fashion they aren't accustomed to and are more likely to lose.

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My above statement is not intended to point fingers at people, or say that they are bad, or say that any of the people involved are intentionally trying to skew the races in their favor. It's a statement of how things actually work. Whether conciously or unconciously, that's the reasoning behind races of that sort. I personally think it's dangerous and stupid to encourage or push people to ride brakeless, and people who do so should be held accountable for their advice.