I have a few objections to a rear brake:
- I want this bicycle to be meaningfully different from my previous ones. No rear brake may encourage me to brake with the pedals and perhaps learn something about riding or myself.
- Simplicity of function and appearance are important to me. Half the impulse behind this bicycle is my distaste of industry trends toward gratuitous electrification and complexity.
- The Wabi Special has no built-in cable stops or housing guides, so I’d have to clip the rear-brake cable housing to the frame. Starts to look a bit vintage to my eye. Though maybe I could find black clips or something to counter that. Not sure what clips would do to the paintwork either. (The Wabi Thunder frame, on the other hand, has cable stops on the top tube – but then you’re stuck with unused braze-ons if you don’t want a rear brake. Swings and roundabouts.)
- Weight, trivially. I am hardly a weight-weenie but need to carry this bicycle up steep stairs to a storage area. Since dumping gears gets rid of weight to begin with, I’d like to keep this thing reasonably light.
- There are some interesting hand lever options for one brake, like this Gran Compe Shot Lever.
But this brake decision is not final.