Since the majority of posts in this sub-forum are: "What's the "Best Fixie" for < $300" the odds of someone with a World or Olympic class track bike suddenly being overcome with a desire to install a brake is not likely. Your 2 cents are safe.

What is likely is that someone with little or no experience riding FG on the road ( like the dude who just acquired the "Best" sub-$300 "Fixie") getting the idea that at least a front brake is not needed on the street and Mystical Thinking "Zen-Sense/Focus" is an adequate substitute from posters who assert so. It's not.

-Bandera

Wrong.

The majority of threads in this sub are asking about brakes on fixies.


Like really why isn't this locked.

Well of course, I don't condone newbies trying to ride on the street without a brake, I had one when I started out and only took it off because when I got new bars it didn't fit so I said "to hell with it" and didn't bother with brakes after that. Obviously I go a bit slower opposed to if I had brakes due to stopping distance, but as cliched as it sounds, I must say I do feel like I'm more aware without them because the increased stopping distance requires more future planning. But to put it bluntly in the words of a Philadelphia messenger "Do I ride brakeless? Yes. Do I condone it? No."

wut why?

because when skidding the wheel could potentially pull forward and drop right out and there's really no way on most conversion-worthy frames to add tensioning screws

To someone who has spent their entire cycling career going as fast as conditions and conditioning allowed I clearly don't understand the "Brakeless Fixie" ethos.
My old teammates would be very perplexed as well, we thought the whole point of FG road cycling was to move right smartly along and be prepared for whatever road hazards intruded as on any training ride.
I don't think we had it far wrong as the last century or so of club riders have found.

What Benefit precisely is there in not mounting a simple lightweight component or two that is not necessarily employed on every FG ride other than intrusions into the dubious realm of Mystical Thinking and Style?

-Bandera

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=468935

Really?
23 years on this FG conversation and many thousands of miles, no pulling forward so far.....

-Bandera

Also, you're talking about training rides and I'm talking about general urban escapades. Obviously the point of a training ride is to get better, and if I were legitimately training for track season I wouldn't want to be using up so much of my energy stopping my bike when that energy could be used doing efforts.

Yes but that frame has tensioning screw

Yes, the FG I'm currently riding is an old school road bike. Ultegra calipers front and back. I rarely use them, but when I do, I'm glad I did. The only time I've ever ridden a fixed gear without brakes is on a velodrome.

Incorrect. That is an adjustment screw that in no way retains the wheel in the dropout.

You've this bass ackwards. When skidding, the wheel pulls itself back into a road horizontal dropout. If the wheel is going to be pulled out, it will happen when pedaling forwards.

:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn


Said the SS rider......

All the times my wheel has slipped in the dropouts, it's slipped at an angle, and I've assumed this is due to the chain pulling on one side of the hub, so logicially, if the screws are right against the hub axle, it can't be pulled at an angle, no?

But the only times I've had my wheel move forward in the dropouts, it was during skidding and not pedaling

Er, no. Those screws will do absolutely nothing to prevent the wheel from being pulled forward.

Darwin effect, maybe? ;)

Maybe you were riding backwards, or maybe you live in a mirror image parallel universe where the laws of physics are reversed.

I am getting thirsty now!!!

That's a Campagnolo "Dropout Adjuster" for precise rear wheel placement on a road frame converted to FG use decades ago.
It will in no way prevent the dreaded "pull forward", whatever that is suggested to be.
One could actually torque the axle nuts correctly, it worked on the track.

-Bandera

Well Chicago is a strange place, you might be right

Ah, today I learned something new

No.
"All the times"?

Really?
In more >40 years including Max Force starts to the best of my modest ability I've never "slipped" a rear wheel on the start of any event: road, track, MTB or 'cross.
Lacking evidence that one is a True-Power Beast on the bike improper alignment of the various bit's 'n bobs of the machine would be the next culprit for examination, or not.
Perhaps a lack of Zen-Start, propitious amulets and Focus could be to blame?

PS: If you can't get a good solid reliable Start what makes you confident of your Stopping ability on our unpredictable streets?

-Bandera

Okayy so in that case I'm going to assume my locknuts weren't tight enough. Where did I say I couldn't get a reliable start?

Incorrect assumption:
Alignment check 1st, proper wheel install 2nd.

BTW: In what way does "general urban escapades" differ functionally from a club rider getting out of the city safely onto a local training route on his/her FG machine?
Do you do interesting tricks and provide other entertainment?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=468956

This could be highly diverting.

-Bandera

Yes as a matter of fact, I engage in circuslike activity, you guessed it.

But in all seriousness, I said it before, if you're riding to train, you want to use all of your energy actually moving the bike, not stopping it. Especially if you're a track cyclist in which there's no backpedaling taking place when you're going 25-30mph surrounded by other riders going just as fast, backpedaling/skidding isn't a skill that's of the utmost importance