Originally Posted by KrazieF00
Flame me all you want, I know you brakeless riders will defend your decisions to the death, and that I respect. I also understand the aesthetic point of it, brakeless bikes are awesome looking. In fact, I know people go brakeless because they KNOW how to handle their bike, which I have no problem with, I am not your mother, it's not my job to tell you what to do.
But to say that you ride brakeless for ANY reason beyond "having the look" is absolutely ludicrous. You're only lying to yourself. I wish more people would just come out and say it: "I ride brakeless because I like the way it looks." Rant off.
certainly, the physics are such that brakes will slow you down more quickly. this is especially true in an academic sense. sure, the same person can go faster on a closed course with brakes than without. whatever. but, i'm still not convinced of their increased efficacy (over brakeless) in most urban traffic situations - in terms of safety, and, for the most part, overall speed. most people who ride brakeless are in urban/city environments. it really makes sense in such settings because of the nature of the traffic, the closely spaced intersections, etc. if you're going to be intelligent, you're going to want to slow down in advance of a questionable intersection just to see what the **** is going on. you're going to be controlling your deceleration and don't really need much other than slowing your pedaling with some resistence. the nature of most crashes in the city are also such that a few extra feet aren't going to save your ass -- unless you were just being careless in the first place. when you need to stop relatively quickly, you're going to be able to do it whether brakeless or not.
hell, after i became comfortable riding brakeless, i still had a brake on for a few months. ultimately, though, i never used it. i never needed to use it, despite several close call situations and a lot of aggressive city riding. i took it off because there was no tangible benefit -- and i ride pretty fast (so long as my balls aren't ultra-chafed) -- and, moreover, because it got in the way.
i ultimately took the brake off because it had proven to be totally unnecessary for the riding that i do and interfered with my hand positions on the handlebars (i even used a cross lever). yes, it also looks a lot better. it's also a **** of a lot more fun, too. i'd throw the brake back on if i were racing on a closed course or, possibly, if i were in a city with gruesome hills, but i, and i'm sure others will agree, don't find any practical advantage to having one.
i was unaware that this was going to devolve into a common sense academic discussion about braking. it seems like such isn't really even worth having. the answers are extremely obvious. the particularities, though, of city riding, require different considerations. that said, if you want to ride with a brake, have fun and be safe, just like everyone else.