Originally Posted by Ira in Chi
Sam, the crucial point here is your assumption that the ability to stop quickly makes you a faster urban rider. As you know, stopping is often not the best thing to do in a dangerous situation. Therefore, the ability to stop quickly will not necessarily give one of a pair of identical riders the advantage of speed, especially in the city. Your physics are rock solid, I'm questioning the philosophy
What I'm saying, in terms of actual street performance, is that the ability to SLOW DOWN faster and SPEED UP faster, adds up to more time spent at higher speeds, which will add up to getting places faster. Those two abilities really work best if you have both of them (brakes and lower gearing).