What if..............
 

I was wondering how many of you use your front brake?
I did a little teat for all of last week and this week to see how mutch I use my front brake and up to now the answer is...........none :eek:

So I was thinking of removing it to see if I would save some weight on the bike as I know they are kinda heavy?

Any thoughts :)

what? your front brake is your primary brake!

That is a usual misconception that the rear should be the primary brake. The front has more stopping power. So I would not trade my front brakes for my rear. Learn to use your front brakes, control is better and stopping is faster.:)

My rear brakes are almost never used.

You're kidding right? If you want to shave weight, remove the rear brake.
Also learn to pedal standing up, remove the seat and seat post all together along with the handlebar and stem, just grip the front brake lever in your hand and steer the nub on the headset with the other.
You can shave a couple hundred grams if you remove the tires and tube and ride on the rims. Find a smooth road and take out every other spoke, just really really tension the remaining ones. If you do this, you can also remove the pump and patch kit. Remove the front and derailler also along with two rings from the front and all but one gear from the rear cassette.
Use a chaintool to break all the links in your chain, use every other plate only. Remove the pedals and replace them with a thin rod. Uh.. I think you'll be good there.
On my bike, the front brake's worn down to half, the rear brake's almost untouched. In an emergency, I grab both but usually the front works a lot better, the rear just locks up and I go all wiggly and slide.

I agree with the others here, I use both and the front a lot. My front is stronger. DA 7403 brakes. I drag the rear a lot when I ride with my 8yr old daughter so that I do not go to fast.

You know what, why are there tossers here that give stupid replys, I'm sorry I dont have the vast knowladge of some of the people in this forum, thats why I post questions. Now most people do give great answers in a common way, but if you cant answer in a "plain" way, dont bother, its just a question!
When I was younger, I had gone over my handlebars a few times from pulling the front brake too hard, thats where my thinking comes from.
slvoid! calm down! its just a question, no need to burst a bloodvessel

he's kidding... probably?

Anyway, try practicing using your front brake.. On of the reasons people go over the bars(front braking), is becuase they didn't know how to control the front brakes.. It's pretty powerful, if not controlled it would do harm.

For just about all you might want to know about braking:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Hehehe I'm kidding I'm kidding. :)
I grabbed my front brake too fast once and went over, landed on my head. So yes I also had a slight fear of going over. On my road bike, I'm so low on my bike anyway, if I shift my weight back, I can grab the front brake as hard as I can and it'll start sliding before I pitch over. If you can practice with it, slowly applying force on the brake lever quicker and quicker.
The rear brake really is almost useless other than for bleeding off speed in tandem with the front. Try just pushing the bike while you're walking, on a smooth road, you can completely lock up your rear brake and slide the rear wheel without even knowing it. For safety's sake, would you trust that?

I need to practice using my front brake much more. On my Harley, I rarely use the rear brake, the front is located on the right hand. On the bicycle, I am also using the right hand, but that is for the rear. I know from the Harley, that the front is a very efficient stopping tool, occasionally augmented by the rear brake.
Transferring what is certain knowledge into practiclal, done without thinking, usage will take awhile.
At one time I had considered swapping out the left and right handles so that the front would be at my right hand, but I never got around to it.

I think there is a guy who does put bullsh1t questions on here just to get us going :D

While we're at it: the front brake should be on the left...IT'S MY LAW!! :)

This way, you can gear down with your right hand whilst braking heavily with your left when you are, for example, going around a sharp corner. For some reason, most Aussie bikes are the other way 'round

I like the front brake on the left also, but that's because I'm left-handed. I would not take the front brake off. You wouldn't save that much weight. Just learn to control your braking.

Because of the high center of gravity, your front brake provides probably 90% of the stopping power on dry pavement.

I almost always use my front brake . . . in fact, on my mtn bike, it's the only brake I've got.

We were hiking on a steep multiuse trail when a mtn biker near us broke one of his brake cables going down a rather steep hill. Fortunately, he had a second brake left to stop him. Otherwise, it could have been sort of a bad situation!

There's no need to "apologize".

Given a choice, I would rather be thrown over the handlebar than not stop efficiently in panic.

Just out of curiosity, since I've never ridden one, as I understand it, on a fixie, your legs are what provides the braking power right? So that would translate through the chain to the rear wheel, does that mean fixies stop through their rear wheel?

Yes sir. Some people run a front brake too.

Yes....on brakeless fixies.
All my fixies are equipped with front brakes, although I use my legs to scrub off speed and also aid in stopping. But my front brake does most of the stopping for me.

<sniffs at Troll bait....bites>
Front brakes are for stopping, rear brakes are for lawyers.
You only do an endo if you sit bolt upright, jam on the front brake and fail to brace your arms. I have tried, but failed to "endo" when braking on descents that were so steep they were frightening. If my rear wheel rises, I just ease off the brakes.

I don't use my mtn bike on trails ... it's just for commuting on flat roads, snowbiking on easy trails, or doing the odd longer road ride like a winter century. Where I live, the biggest, steepest hills are called: "overpasses".

Nonetheless, the right... or rather, wrong combination of factors
can cause you to go head over wheels. I've done it in a panic situation:
sometimes panic puts a different amount of force onto brakes than you
would otherwise exert... but yes, I was riding improperly at the time. If
I hadn't been, it wouldn't have been such a panic!

That said, learning to use the brake properly is a better solution than
throwing it away. Besides, you'll save more weight taking the rear brake
off. Think of all that extra cable!

Thanks for everones input. I'll start braking with the front (maybe I can take the back one off :-}) just kidding

there is only one thing i can think of and it is this...

I removed the entire bike last week and it is so light now.

Ohhh! My side is hurting. That is so funny.