Originally Posted by dirtyphotons

ask and ye shall be linked:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html#skid

edit: if the theorem above is correct, and it looks like it is, the sentence should read:

If you are an ambidextrous skidder, and the simplified ratio has an even numerator, your number of skid patches will be the same.

If you are an ambidextrous skidder, and the numerator and denominator is odd, the number of possible skid patches will be doubled.

to be fair, i was the one who called sheldon out on this originally, and being the reasonable person he is, he changed his site to reflect it. turns out we were both wrong