I have always used them. Two good ones.

A couple of thoughts - it is easy to run the numbers and show it takes more than twice as much distance to stop using only the rear wheel. Basic physics. Freshman engineering.

I've been riding fix gear for 40 years. I have never met anyone who rides without brakes who started when I did. Where are they all? Hiding in the woodwork? No longer riding? No longer alive?

Ben

The owner of the store in Portland that was the premier fix gear shop often did work on very high end fix gears without brakes. It was business. But he absolutely refused to look at, appraise or comment on those bikes. In his view, they were not long for the world, soon to be disposed of and not worthy of acknowledgement nor worth attaching any value to. This includes bikes like Keirin lever 3Renshas that he would have had hung up high in his shop if they were his.

As far as your words

do you respect high end and vintage bikes enough to improve their chances of being trashed? If it is "not right" to put on a brake, it is certainly "not right" to ride it on the road.

Ben

This pissing match is getting tired, fellas.

Obviously brakes are safer. Some of us use them, some of us don't. Some of us wear helmets, some of us don't. Do what the hell you want, FFS.

touche

You guise, give it a brake already!

I really have little interest in trashing a $100 tubular tire.

I do find it interesting that people that have actually raced on a track are for the most part in favor of at least a front brake on a fixed gear ridden on the street while those who have never raced track think riding brake free is a good idea.

tru fixie

No doubt, but once again: What Benefit Precisely is there in not mounting a simple lightweight braking component or two that is not necessarily employed on every FG ride other than for intrusions into the mythical realm of Magical Thinking, Dubious Style or Circus Tricks?

-Bandera

Quiet, I am not done with my popcorn and I have a big glass of pop!!!

Also interesting is the fact that most of the guys I see riding fixed in Manhattan aren't running any brakes.

I would say that's less interesting and more predictable​.

Well virtually none, I have no problem with admitting that, like I said, I feel that not having a brake makes me more aware but awareness is something that could obviously be learned with a brake too, albeit not out of necessity

I'm not the most experienced FG rider (actually, I'm not experienced at all with FG's, but I do have over 30 years of cycling in traffic experience) but I simply do not believe that riding without brakes (in traffic) is in any way better than riding with brakes.

I run a pretty standard 16/46, if I'm going 20-30 mph I can backpedal to slow down, but it is nothing compared to actually braking. I can't skid, I admit. But in the best case scenario, skidding using the pedals would be comparable to slamming on the back brake, which is simply not a very effective way of stopping.

Obviously, since a lot of people do it, you can manage on a FG in traffic without brakes. However, apart from it obviously being a lot more dangerous (and sure, it's fine for you to like that, the person you crash into might disagree though...) I don't buy the "more aware" thing at all. You could be just as aware riding with brakes. Fighter pilots don't remove their ejector seats because it makes them "more aware", do they? Anything, with the exception of bar-spinning, that you can do without brakes can be done with brakes. On top of that, because you can stop more quickly, you can go at higher speeds in lots of situations.

My conclusion, then, is that the only reason for not having brakes on your bike is for "posing". Which has value, I don't deny that. But don't try to justify it as anything else, it's just silly.

Whatver.

I don't have brakes .I think it really uesless for fixies.

Goethe: "In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister" [In limitation the master reveals himself]

Benefits of brakeless:

1. heightened awareness
2. living with limitation
3. if necessary, getting schooled in 1. and 2.

There's nothing inherently dangerous about it. Just don't ride faster than you can stop! Pretty simple. And easy for those of us who can navigate between racing and JRA.

Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, written for the one-armed soloist Paul Wittgenstein. Skip to 2:50 for the good stuff.

:p

This is the MOST sensible thing I've read all day.

...and some of us can walk and chew gum at the same, while others cannot. Yet do we chastise those who cannot?

Yes it is, and I suggest we leave it there, rather than provide lame analogies, anecdotes or examples.

-Tmonk.

Amen. Close calls shrink when no brakes are available. Kudos to those who have superior skills and can cope without superfluous brakes.

****

What, nobody has won this argument yet?

I think I'm going to try making chili with soyrizo in it.

I notice the player has his right hand there, just in case he needs it. He can get the full benefit of right-hand-less playing while still having his right hand. In fact there is absolutely no difference in his enjoyment of playing the left-handed piece even though he has his right hand in standby. He may at some future point have a desire to use his right hand for some unforeseen circumstance and then he'll be glad he kept it attached. Good point.

LOL ok you pwnd me dude.