Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
When you brake hard you need to shift your weight back as far as possible to keep the rear wheel in contact with the road and push against the bars to resist what can be nearly 1 g in braking force.... when the rear wheel starts to lift or skid you will know you have reached your maximum braking capacity and may have to modulate the brake a little.
Yup. This is the way I brake on everything two wheeled, even my motorcycles. Since I ride everything, I find this technique to be valuable equally on the trails, where you're negotiating a NUMBER of things, let alone the steepness of some areas. You have roots, ruts, reggae, rocks, logs, small animals, other riders coming to opposite direction... all on a thin slice of singletrack among a forest of trees.
On my non-fixed off road bikes and motos, I use the rear brake to slide into turns... it's a faster way of getting through some stuff.
But even when we were BMX'ing back in the 80s and 90s, we still employed this. Not because anybody told us how... it just felt right. Folks would be suprised how much riding a variety of bikes helps in bike handling skills.
You are right, though. On a fixed gear with a front brake, you can stop ON A DIME.