Consider this. If you've run brakeless long enough and are used to it past a certain point, I actually believe you are potentially at greater risk if you add a front brake back into the equation. If the habit of stopping entirely with your legs is fully ingrained, having to stop, think, grab for the brake lever and squeeze is going to throw off your reaction time and **** your normal ability to stop quickly and effectively. A front brake for me at this point would only screw up my ability to stop/bail quickly in an emergency stop.

Also - crushkilldstroy - I never realized you were in KC. I'm just east of you in Columbia.

Righty-oh!

no ****? you ever make it out here? i think me, you, and that phidueaaxasdrklc dude from stl are the only missouri cats on here.

eh **** it - this is probably pm material anyways. i'll shoot you one.

if urban environment turns into sudden need to stop with no chance to avoid, fact remains mr. 2 brake friend can stop faster than you (assuming he knows how to pull a lever).

B====================D ------------------ (brakes + breaks)

Not if his reaction time isn't as good. Every time you introduce an additional mechanical device into the equation, the potential for additional minute but significant delays in the cognitive sequence of oh shoot gotta stop! increases. Someone good with brakeless will fare just as well as someone with brakes in an emergency stop situation. The important thing is having internalized how to stop suddenly if need be, whether you have hand brakes or not. If you are mentally unprepared, you're screwed with or without. If you are specifically prepared, you're OK, again with or without.

Brakes add grams, grams are bad. If you use brakes cut your non-driveside leg off to save weight.

oh **** juvi is back!

before i start, one of my fixies is brakeless...

i'm of the opinion that many of the people that do ride brakeless shouldn't... not to say that nobody should, but that many people who claim to be "one with their bikes" need to stop having their heads be one with their asses...
and as for the people who are saying a panic stop with a front brake ****s **** up, if i can stop a 330 lbs motorcycle going 30 mph, with my 230 lbs on top of it, in 15 feet with only a front brake, someone who actually knows what the **** they're doing can stop a bicycle in at least ten...

make that "messes stuff"...

If it was as immediate as you say, I know with or without breakes I would have hit the fence, since I usually ride with my hands on top of the bars, I dont hover the break 24/7. I would have slowed down for the corner with the break, but i dont think i've ever cornered while breaking, I freewheel, then accelerate out. If I did break out of fear, and my relfex's were catlike, I would have probably slammed it down and flown over the handlebars.

If you're riding fixed you should change your riding style accordingly.

If you're riding fixed + breakless you should change your riding styles accordingly.

I ride without a break right now because I havent gotten round to getting one, and I ride fairly slowly (incase I unclip or something horrible happens). When I get a break, I will ride faster, but I will still ride with extreme caution since I'm on a fixed and dont want to fly into a fence like some dumbass.

This is another dumb thread about the age old fixed gear question.

Personally, I think its dumb to ride without a break for mechanical reasons (nothing is 100% unbreakable, accidents happen), but I dont give half a damn about somebody that does. I wouldnt lecture them about the dangers. If they are versed enough to have a fixed gear, i'm sure they know enough to understand the dangers.

i think obi wan would go brakeless but boba fett would use a front brake.

Boba Fett would use rocket boosters, too. And guns. Lots of guns.

one time, LeWhiteRabbit (2 brakes) ran into me (no brakes). your post just reminded me of that. it's sort of a funny story.

+1..."changing your style" may mean different things to different people, but i do agree that if you ride differently, you need to use different muscles, different parts of your brain, and different skills.

Good to see you guys so passionate about something other than pies or beer. I'll agree that riding beyond your skill level and road conditions is the primary issue here, and having a brake is the secondary issue.

If you cannot stop your bike in time, it matters not what braking system you use.

expat...funny how we started off. the more you post, the more i like you.

what's important isn't how you brake, but whether or not it's of use to you.

Don't suck up, it only makes you look bad to your peers. I'm quite certain that a pair of 203mm titanium discs will stop faster than any fixie around, but that doesn't give me license to ride like an idiot. Know your limits, that's all I'm saying.

no, no, that's exactly what i'm saying. knowing your limits and working around them is crucial to how you ride. a person on a road bike with two hand brakes has to ride very differently than a person on a fixed gear with no handbrakes, and limits are there with both (i.e., a road bikes' brake pads won't do as well in rain, a brakeless fixed bike's braking system relies solely on the rider and his/her legs), and with both you have to ride appropriately.

my riding's fairly risky, but it's never without mind that i don't have hand brakes, and that braking with my legs has to be spot on or it's no good. it's all about how you ride, not what setup you rock.

I'm agreeing with you, I just have a habit of repeating myself. Our tandem will stop on a dime in normal riding. But we've hit 60 on a twisty section of roadway, and suddenly those big brakes don't seem to be enough. Hence the importance of all riders riding within their limits.

By the way, consider track tandems - that would take some sick braking technique.

Hey, when you stop fast on a tandem, and the woman in back doesn't see it coming, do they smack right into the back of the woman in front? Or do an endo?

Think about how hard it would be to endo a tandem. You'd need to be going down a steep, steep decline, and you'd have to hit a huge pothole or big rock (basketball-sized) going super fast. It's just too long of a lever.

Hard, yes, and all the more impressive if ever were to happen. And very, very, unfortunate.

i am totally down for wearing a stupid padded suit and trying to endo a tandem. i am very serious.