A rear brake is somewhat redundant on a fixed but it sure wouldn't do you any harm.

I use drop bars. I basically need two brake levers, might as well have two brakes.

How come someone riding a freewheel needs a rear brake? Can't he make due with just a powerful front?

MOst of the time, yes, but bicycles almost always have two brakes. A fixie has legs for a rear brake and should have a front caliper for use on streets; a freewheel SS does not have legs for rear brakes so should have two calipers.

Under normal conditions, yes, but if the road is slippery then a front brake becomes dangerous and the only safe way to slow down is with a rear brake.

Also, end-overs. In a stop-as-fast-as-possible situation, someone with two brakes can release the front slightly if the rear is coming up while continuing to slow down.

If you ride serious hills, you will find that brake hoods are really nice for climbing. If you are going to put on hoods. it isn't much extra weight, etc. to run cables and a rear caliper. (Especially since hoods are usually sold in sets and include levers. Likewise calipers are usually sold in pairs.)

And downhill at high speed, the rear brake is really nice for bleeding off speed and keeping your RPM under control. We can be talking RPMs that the rest of the world will say cannot be done. I've done close to 50 mph (many years ago when I was young, recently post racing, riding my post accident years for my sanity and descending Oakland, CA's Juaquin Miller on a 42-17. That's well over 200 RPM.

Plus, when it comes to real downhills, redundancy in stopping is never a bad thing. And once you hit 40 mph, forget about using your legs! Suppose anything happens to your front brake.

As far as problems of a rear brake on a fix gear? Well they have not shown up for me in my first 94,000 miles. Not saying there aren't any. I'll keep riding fixed and report back when I see them.

Ben

I have ridden with and w/o the rear brake and I find it much better to have the rear brake on the bike. I find the rear brake allows more control when you are slowing during a decent. At the very least, it is nice to have two brake levers for symmetry.

Memorial to Matthew R. Dille

Traction limits what a single contact patch will support in braking: loose/broken/wet surfaces can require the use of F&R to avoid a lock-up and maximize control.
For experienced riders the application of front or rear brakes can have different functions other than just short stopping distances.
Setting up for corners, keeping the correct distance in a paceline, covering a brake while reaching for a drink or descending at pace require different modulations.

FW bikes require properly set-up brakes F&R.

-Bandera

[MENTION=393034]bmwjoe[/MENTION], sorry about your son.

That is a very attractive seat lug cluster. You did a hell of a job modifying that bike and made a great choice of one to start with.

Yep and a super thoughtful page documenting his bike and its importance.

I appreciate what you did with the bike and as a memorial to your son. My 4 1/2 year old daughter was lost to leukemia in 1996.

I hope you are at peace.


-Tim-

Thanks for all the long thought out replies in this thread. I had the same question! You guys are awesome.

As my post earlier says, I like to ride a lot of the canyons here. It is very easy to reach 30+ mph on the descents. Your legs are moving so fast they're useless as your rear brake, you'd probably crash if you tried and scrwed up. Using too much front brake when your legs are spinning fast can cause some scary front end shimmy which is then difficult to recover from because your legs are spinning so fast. For most riding I don't use the read but it is very useful on descents.

Key information.

No less an authority than Sheldon Brown writes:

There is really no need for a rear brake on a fixed-gear bicycle. By applying back-pressure on the pedals, you can supply all the braking that the rear wheel really needs. In fact, it is fairly easy to lock up the rear wheel and make it skid, unless you are running a rather high gear.

If it's good enough for Sheldon, then it's good enough for me.

I don't run a rear brake, but have a front brake. If you have plans to run it as either, a rear brake can be beneficial. I've instructed people where I live who are starting to ride fixed gears to have a front and rear brake until you get used to the motions and remember to not try to coast and stress that once used to it, it is their own decision to remove the rear brake.
[MENTION=393034]bmwjoe[/MENTION] , sorry about your son. I think it is awesome that you built that bike up in memoriam.

I have yet been able to make my 16 tooth rear cog skid while at speed - but if I did I have a feeling that I would be leaning so far over the front wheel for leverage that the rear would be unweighted too much to even be a brake.

^ Hard to tell how hard it is to skid on a 16t rear cog without knowing what you got up front. Lean forward to initiate the skid, then lean back to put pressure over the real wheel. Probably easier, hop the rear wheel and lean back on it

I prefer having front and rear brakes. I ride in all conditions and don't want to have bum knees and ankles when I am much much older. Plus I suck at skidding unless it is an emergency situation in which case my legs somehow know what to do. At the worst having two brakes is a little extra weight and a lot of extra security.

I also like the symmetry since I run TT levers on my bars and only having one would look silly.

I use a front brake, but only to make skidding easier.

Rip the brake so your rear wheel loses weight, lock out that skid and look sick.

Where I live I have got to have two brakes due to the hoards of terrible bicycle riders.


I have had my fixed gear for about a month now and am planning to make it a SS because running a noisy freewheel is the only thing that gets attention. My former road bike with a Campagnolo free hub used to clear a path for me when I’d spin it backward.


This bike is for fitness and maybe going to a bar every now and then. So if I am running two brakes anyway, is there a point to keeping it fixed? (fitness wise)

Get a bell. All the cool kids have bells on their bikes.