VeganRider

Have my first fixed gear and the LBS suggested I start out with a front brake. Put one on from an old road bike that had a 105 set up. I notice that when I pull as hard as possible the front wheel will not lock up like it will on my road bikes. Is this just the rim surface on a fixed gear wheel? I would think so; is there any other kind of pad that you guys would use that grabs the rim better? or is this just the way it goes? thanks.........

absntr

Nothing to do with rim surface. Check your brake pads for wear - if they're worn replace them. Check your cables - get them properly adjusted.

HereNT

I'd go for adjustment as the most likely culprit, especially with a brake that was just put on...

ostro

also try using alcohol on the rim itself. did you recently repack your headset? maybe some of the grease you were using dripped on to the wheel. The pads may have to be replaced but try using alcohol (isopropyl) on the braking surface before you replace.

yonderboy

I clean my rims with Simple Green and sandpaper my pads when my brakes stop being grippy. Kool Stop pads are the best out there, IMO. Also make sure your cable is adjusted so your pads contac the rim at halfway through the pull.

That should have you doing endos. If not, you might need to service your caliper or replace your cable.

r-dub

yeah, probably an adjustment issue, there's no difference in the front wheels of fixed and non-fixed bikes. In response to the question in your title, I think that unless you're a great skidder/skipper than your front brake should be the nicest part on your bike...or you should at least feel confident trusting it with your life (which you do whenever you get on your bike.)

Aeroplane

Your front brake should work. That's the bottom line. It doesn't need to be DA or Chorus to stop you. And I've never heard of anybody locking up their front wheel on pavement, but maybe that's just me.

bostontrevor

Oh, it happens.

Aeroplane

Come on, you can't drop a teaser like that and not tell the story.

bostontrevor

Nothing more to say. My biggest war story is the time I was following a car too closely, they stopped suddenly for a crosswalk and I endo'd up on their trunk at like 10 mph. I think others here have more exciting tales.

herst

I'll bite with a good f.b. lockup story. I had just gotten my conversion with a flip/flop hub and was riding the freewheel to get used to the bike. I was coming up Mass Ave in Cambridge from MIT towards Central, which meges with main street and I blew a red light. This is typically fine because you have a good view of the folks merging from Main and I could clearly see that the only thing that would get in the way was a moped that would (I figured) merge well ahead of me. I was probably going 20.

Anyway, the person on the moped noticed me right as she was meging into traffic and--I have no idea why--got scared at my approach and stopped dead in my path. I looked at her, she looked at me and I suddenly realized she wasn't going to move. Slammed on the front brake and next thing I knew, I was flying over the handle bars. After getting up I did the following things, in this order:

1. Ensure that I hadn't scratched the bike. I hadn't.
2. Check to see that she had a red light and that's why she stopped. Realized she had no light at all.
3. Yelled at the top of my lungs, "What the **** were you doing? Why on earth did you stop?"
4. Realized that she was a very nice, very bewildered, very attractive Italian woman on a celeste-green Vespa.
5. Apologized profusely, took all blame (well, it was totally my fault), and left saying, "Oh yeah, everything's fine, I mean I didn't even scratch it."
6. Bought a bike helmet.

Not sure this would have happened if I'd been riding fixed.

herst

Oh to the o.p. any old brake is fine. I ride fixed with a really cheap shimano f.b. and those few instances I need it works perfectly.

Rincewind8

You didn't invite her to... let's say a coffee?

herst

This occurred before I read this thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...all+fixed+date

And learned that injuring oneself is a natural segue into a date.

junioroverlord

I locked my front brake once...ended up narrowly getting run over by a Mercedes and scraping my knee up pretty good. One of the few times I wasn't wearing my helmet. Luckily I went over my bars and onto my knee, not my head.

jim-bob

There's nothing natural about segways.

Jamtastic

my second fixie wreck ever led to one of the most amazing nights of my life. a little bad resulted in a whole lot of good.....

46x17

yeah those front brakes are dangerous. I hear way more stories about people going over the bars than frontbrakeless people being unable to stop.

Judah

Ooh, there's a great handbrake horror story about Dokushoka's roommate. It involves late night drinking, our usual racing afterwards, and someone playing drums on the pavement with their head.

46x17

especially because the front brake encourages high speeds in places where it is not adviseable.

pwarre20

Segue:
se·gue Audio pronunciation of "segue" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sgw, sgw)
intr.v. se·gued, se·gue·ing, se·gues

1. Music. To make a transition directly from one section or theme to another.
2. To move smoothly and unhesitatingly from one state, condition, situation, or element to another: “Daylight segued into dusk” (Susan Dworski).

n.
An act or instance of segueing.

Segway:

Jamtastic

haha. i love how in advertisements for those they are rarely going faster than the people walking around them .... why not just walk wtf

cicadashell

could that be because the former are more likely to live to tell the tale?

46x17

It could.

My friend thinks it is because the frontbrake riders have less of manliness complex and therefore it is easier for them to admit their mistakes.

bostontrevor

Funny. I've been run over by one, almost two of the latter. (Thanks for not killing me, Jeff, because you were booking and that would have hurt!)