Why not just call the cops or park rangers on the guy? He's as much of a danger to the ecosystem as a SUV driver. Something must be done!

No. For every fixed brakeless off road rider there are hundreds & hundreds of inexperienced riders inconsiderately or ignorantly thrashing trails and causing erosion damage. It takes experience and skills to ride properly, protecting the trail at speed, never locking brakes and 95%+ front brake only. The damage your friend does is insignificant and no worse than inexperienced riders with brakes.

If he has skills enough to ride technical offroad, fixed & brakeless, without injury & death then he probably shaves speed backpedaling more often than skidding where the inexperienced rider trying to go fast will skid even just to shave speed for a corner. If he doesn't have these skills he won't be a problem for you for long.

Ride his wheel, 5 inches back, see if you can determine when he is slowing but not skidding, it's often or your story just doesn't fly. (don't ride his wheel if you don't know how)

Actually the OP stated that the protagonist has "has no mtb experience at all"

Ahh I didn't see that, my mistake, also didn't see the part where OP seems to say his friend isn't a solid fixie rider yet.

Well then the answer is obvious, let him ride it. He won't do it more than once if your trails are at least somewhat technical. I see more pain in the future of the OPs friend than in the trails he rides with his new fixie on. Off road fixed is....a challenge, no matter your skill level. (Unless you ride some disney ass trails, I pffft in your general direction if thats the case)

Cause other people don't recycle I shouldn't recycle either!

Which problem would you address, the oddball who doesn't recycle his beer cans because he has an emotional attachment to them or the thousands of neighbours he has who don't recycle because they're unaware of the program? See my post above. I made a mistake. I presumed that anyone trying fixed brakeless offroad would at least be an experienced enthusiast of brakeless, offroad or both, but none?

OP needs new friends and the fast path is to let the fool friend ride, if he ain't all bad a person tag along to call the meatwagon

Really, no mtb and he wants to try it fixed even though he's a newb at that too? He wants trial by fire, so let him burn if he's not friend enough to hear you.

My first reaction is that the trails would be torn with any serious riding, as in riding with any type of speed at all, which will be necessary to carry momentum up climbs. There would be absolutely no way not to skid and slide all over the place, experienced rider or not, on a brakeless fixed MTB, unless you stay at 2-3 mph.
There is no way around it. I ride brakeless fixed in the city and it is impossible for me to come to a stop within a reasonable distance without skipping or skidding. That's on solid concrete. Trails have infintely more variations and considerations in moisture and soil consistency. It really has nothing to do with the skill level of the rider; skidding would be necessary.

My second reaction would be that it would suck. So slow and tedious, and I would have to constantly examine where my pedals are in relation to trail obstacles. The joy of riding fixed in the city, for me, is that I have one bike that is really well suited to the relatively consistent conditions found there.
The joy of MTB riding is the fact that there are so many different variations in trail geography and conditions, and that sometimes a very high level of equipment is needed to maximize speed and controll for each section. As such I'll take my pick of 3k full suspension bikes over any amount of percieved street (or trail) cred that riding a brakeless fixed MTB would give me.

My 2cents as a MTB nerd and racer since grade school.

Brakeless is just a very macho thing. He is just flaunting the fact that he is either cooler then you, or maybe just has bigger balls then you, since it was ruled out that he is more experienced then most other riders.

I've been out with fixed + front brake riders, but experienced, way lower ratio thatn the street too was considered de riguer. Never with a fixed/brakeless rider off road but it could be done though I don't imagine they could get going above the speed of a cross country runner. And they'd crash and burn, fast, even at low speed. Roots, etc etc were problems enough for -front brake- fixed riders due to frequent and hard to avoid pedal strike. No street cred awarded either, some deductions for being dumb enough to think they could match an equal rider on the right tool.

Anytime you ride a bike with knobby tires on it is going to dig out dirt. So if you are all so concern about destroying the trails, then stay off them. I mean you all act like you are so superior to this bloke and you don't leave your mark, but everyone who rides the trails leaves their mark. Yes sloppy riding and skidding do more damage to the trails, but this has more to do with the way you ride then what components someone may or may not have on their bike. Do people who have one brake on their bike skid on the trails? Sure. Two brakes? Yes. So you can hate all you want about brakeless riders but it really has nothing to do with brakes does it. Do you lecture all sloppy riders or just the ones with bikes you don't like. I mean if you are so concerned then maybe instead of preaching to him about what bikes he can and can't ride, talk to him environmental damage and how to ride to minimize that damage. And if he doesn't care then tough, you don't own the trails. If you are right to preach to him about trail damage, then you justify hikers when they petition to keep all MTBs off trail because of the damage they do. Don't preach at people, educate them.
And for the record I know people who ride brakeless not because it is macho or cool but because they are very skilled cyclists who would never use a brake if they had one. If you are scared of getting hurt by all means put a brake on your bike (I have one on mine), but realize not everyone is stupid, some people are just at a higher skill level then you believe possible.

+1

i'd also like to know how much time the OP spends rebuilding the trails he uses.

A brakeless rider cannot avoid skiding down steeps descents period no matter what thier skill level. Steep straight descents are also the hardest portions of trails to keep from erroding, just a couple of riders can ruin them for everyone. And yes I do lecture sloppy riders if i see them. Most people who do are clearly new to the sport and don't know any better.

I don't believe the skill level that allows people to get around the basic laws of physics exists. No matter who you are skidding your rear wheel will never stop you as fast a two rim/disk brakes. Ever notice how many more complaints there are on this forum about almost hitting pedestrians, cars, or getting doored then there are on any of the others and how the majority of them are from brakeless riders.

If he isn't, I am. But it's none of my business. And then being stupid isn't too bad. You could be... driving!

Not true.A skilled rider with good conditions leaves as much of a mark as a hiker. It has everything to do with brakes. The amount of skidding you do is greatly reduced by having brakes. I let all people know when they are harming the trails. Beginners need to learn that skidding isn't good, and they should learn to clean up their technique. Ignorance is preventable. If he doesn't care, he's putting my biking in jeopardy, by increasing the odds of closing trails to MTBs. I don't own the trail, but neither does he, so he has no right to ruin them.Everybody knows that people ride brakeless on the street. That's not the issue. The inherent risk is not the danger issue either. The fact is, this guy WILL ruin trails by riding a fixed MTB with no brake. If he never sees dirt, that's no problem, but as soon as he rides it offroad he will do far more damage than he would if he had a brake. If that makes it less of a challenge for him, that's tough luck; we all have to ride the same trails, and some of us would like them to last.

what's the deal?

All that and; Skidding = slow rider, anyone whose raced enough to move up a few classes will acknowledge this.

We all know that backpressure, skip and skid aren't the most efficient ways of stopping. Tiresome, they wear parts, destroy knees, and you get a longer stopping distance as well. The advantage? Not even the most ferocious weight weenie will say that the saving is worth it, and arguments about maintenance and "less parts" are simply ludicrous.
So you are doing it for the tough guy style points, fun, or the zen feel. Maybe because your fork is undrilled and you're too lazy to change it.

All those reasons to deny yourself the ability to stop quickly in city traffic easily exhaust the definition of "stupid" in my book. Likeable, romantic hero type stupid, impressive stupid, but still stupid. All these issues and arguments have been beaten to death twice over now, so don't let's hijack this thread. Answer in PM if you feel you must

You're speaking from the point of 'educated guess' rather than direct experience. The truth is riders with much more ability to feather their brakes will do far less damage to trails than a rider that's skipping and skidding all over the place. One ****ty rider will do more damage than thirty or forty good riders.

So, yes, when someone has poor manners or practices in a civilized society, we do our best to correct them, instead of throwing our hands up with some emo cynicism and say 'well life is **** so why even try'.

i kind of want to build a fixed mtb. for curb jumping and generally slamming around and abusing.

My wife rides an old track specific frame set up with beefy 26's fixed, it's great for city riding and tough as nails. It looks like an mtb but isn't

unless your internet self is drastically different from your real life persona, i don't think the purpose of this post was to collect advice on how to best confront your friend. you have all of the tools and information that you need to convey your point, so unless your intent was to raise forum awareness then i'd send you on your way with a sound, "go get 'em tiger."

but...you know, there's always that chance you were inventing a hypothetical to stick it to the punks in the ss/fg forum...

well I am kinda hoping by keeping this thread alive I can go with a twist on the classic "show him this thread" option. Where he just finds this thread and realizes that he needs brakes without me having to tell him. Everything I've said is true however IRL I don't actually tell brakeless riders they are morons. I just avoid riding near them and ask them to stay off my wheel.

brakeless off-road is stupid unless your not riding anybit remotely technical trails... i'll leave the brakeless road riding to the rest of you.

if this guy wont believe you,take him to some real mtn trails for his first ride. bruises and broken bones sure are manly, but i bet this guy isn't man enough to try a second time.

In that case I'd say "Let him ride fixed" and let's see if Darwin was right.

Enjoy