I've been riding it brakeless for a couple months now. I don't have a problem, but lot's of my friends and family worry about me riding w/o one. (Ok fine, just a friend and my mom). So I'm doing it first of all to appease her cause moms rock and they deserve our respect, second because it's just flat out smart to rock one, and third because I'm recovering from four broken vertebrae, and so I can't be stressing my body by riding brakeless. Although I love the clean look and the feeling of not having one, my health and life are more important than reaching some aesthetic goal. Enough bull**** from me, I appreciate everyone's advice, and I'm off to the Bike Kitchen tomorrow to see what they got going on.