dirtyphotons

caliper brakes do not require posts, only holes.

as a member of said majority, i usually stay silent because i find threads about the personal choice of brakes vs. no brakes to be played (when in the form of an argument) or ***********y (when everyone agrees).

sorry dude, nothing personal.

edit: changed some "we"s to "i"s

wroomwroomoops

Aw-rite! I see it now! OK, thanks.

Hey, I didn't take it personally - first of all, I agree with what you said. Second: I was genuinely interested in the approximate percentage of brake usage. Not much of a fixed gear scene, in Helsinki. No intention to argue or masturbate

Jonny Pockets

I use both front and rear brakes on my ss, none on one fixie, and front on the other. I find the brake is nice for emergencies, and for big hills at the end of long rides.

bcoppola

Front brake. I was dubious at first being accustomed to two brakes on my road bike, but it works fine for me, especially since installing Koolstop pads.

I tried brakeless for maybe two rides on MUPs at first but decided it was borderline suicidal. (Edit: Plus, being used to riding on the hoods, it wasn't comfortable.)

Being older and protective of my knees, I prefer not to backpedal hard or skid. Mild backpedaling to adjust speed is OK for me though.

BTW, got Cane Creek road levers from my wife for Xmas to replace the crappy old suicide lever stock ones on my conversion.

dijos

not quite..

12XU

Brakes for races and when I want to go stupidly fast and still have modulation.
No brakes for the races that require such a thing, when I want to look soooo kewli00)), or when I know I don't need to stop incredibly quickly.

jeac

i dont have a front brake currently, but am thinking about putting one on for rainy conditions.

jeac

and in reference to 12XU - if i were to do a race i'd probably put a brake on then too

el twe

I honestly don't see any reason to take my brake off for normal riding. Maybe for trick **** or polo and throw on some stupid narrow bars, but around town? Not for me.

eddiebrannan

I honestly don't see any reason to run a brake for normal riding. Maybe for trick **** or polo and throw on some stupid narrow bars, but around town? Not for me.

and there we have it

No_Minkah

I rode with a brake until my legs got strong enough and I got experienced enough to ride brakeless all the time, which I do now. In the city, in traffic. It's better for me. I don't like the feeling of using a brake to stop a fixed gear, you know, because you can use your legs? If I needed to grab a brake in emergency I'll just be doing an endo anyway, so I don't see the point. And as for really long rides, I use a road bike. Brakeless. .

jk610

I started off with a front brake as most people do but after a while saw myself not ever using it so I took it off. At first I didnt like riding brakeless because I didnt know how to skip or skid and I was relying on pure backpressure and the tendinitis in my knee didnt like that much. After learning how to skip Ive since given my knee a lot of relief and have been better at stopping fast. Im also not one of those balls to the wall pedal fast as you can types. I enjoy a slower riding pace where I can stop efficiently in any situation.

el twe

Fair enough.

Smiziley

I have ridden with a front brake since I started riding fixed. I hardly ever used it except down steep hills for general safety but never in a true emergency. It was kind of a nice "just in case". However I switched the handlebars on my bike a few weeks ago and have gone brakeless. Went from drops to a riser. I bought a different brake lever, just wanted to try riding brakeless for a short time. I love it, but I wouldn't recommend it as I now find myself being much more conscious about stopping and you spend more time thinking about slowing down then I would ever on a bike with brakes. If I didn't know how to skid I'd never consider brakeless to be an option.

NextDollarAfter

I definitely prefer having my front brake on my bike, even when it isn't being used it's nice to know it's there.

Rugen

Well, at some point, the conversation is going to be moot. CA and Oregon have very similar bike brake laws, and this year, a judge in Oregon recently decided that the law as is, implies that you have to have at least one brake. Legs & gear don't count.
hub-bub

CA cops are too lazy to cite for this, but I imagine it'll start a slow legislative trend where the definition of required bike gear will get clamped down.

46x17

Just cause Oregon jumps off a cliff does not mean everyone else will.

Check this! https://bikeportland.org/2006/11/22/w...ixed-gear-law/


1204.1 Each bicycle shall be equipped with a brake which enables the operator to cause the braked wheels to skid on dry, level, clean pavement; provided, that a fixed gear bicycle is not required to have a separate brake, but an operator of a fixed gear bicycle shall be able to stop the bicycle using the pedals.

Hooray for DC! Keep it reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll!

Rugen

That is awesome news.

But I still don't trust lawyers & legislators to have anything better to do than to jump on the bandwagon... the first time the family of a thief sues a cyclist for injuries incurred when they try to heist a fixie and end up as blood on the asphalt, everyone will get their panties in a bunch.

Maybe I'm just cynical.

trackstar10

nah, just makes mine bigger than it already is.

Rugen

Yeah, the blunt force trauma of crashing can cause swelling, I hear.

46x17

Well in DC it is the LAW now that you can ride a fixed wheel without handbrake.
So legislatetors DID change it for the better.

The fixed wheel brake is same deal as a coaster brake and nobody cries about that either.
It is not really a big deal to ride without handbrakes. The sooner this is realized the sooner we can get over it.

mihlbach

For all you brakeless folks out there...I'm intertested in what sort of riding you do and if you ever encounter times when you think a brake might come in usefull. I don't normally ride brakeless, but I'm capable of doing so, so I don't feel like less of a man for using a front brake. However, I find that there are times when the brake just makes more sense, like when I'm pulling my kid to daycare in a trailer. Riding brakless with a kid in a trailer is just not an option. I also do long rides and drafting people brakeless is irresponsible. Moreover, after the 50th mile or the 50 stop light, my knees just aren't interested in skipping/skidding anymore. Backpedaling to stop is fun but not repeatedly hundreds of times in one ride...thats just not good, and it zapps my energy and ruins my tire...these things are not good on long rides. For the other 50% of the time, brakeless would be fine, but its not worth removing it...just because you have a brake on your bike doesn't mean you can't ride brakeless.

girona

I rode with a front brake for 1.5 years. I liked using it to slow down when going downhill or when I was carrying a large load (groceries or launry). I recently bought a track frame without brakeholes so I´m currently brakeless. I miss the brake and I like my knees so I´m slowly going with a brake, the only deterring aspect is that I don´t want to kill the classic look of the bike so I just found a vintage road fork that fits the frame. Now I need to find a decent vintage brake and install everything on it. I have to admit that I like the looks of a brakeless bike but I have to be more practical. I also have lights on it.

sniks

these silly Keirin frames don't have hole/drilled for brakes. so we never took them off. neither did my langster pro.
oh thats why there was a warning sticker on the gt pusle meant not for street use track use only.

oh well
honestly maybe I'm alone ,but even when I rode with a brake I forgot to use it when I could have. but made it through fine.
I think that you should learn with a front brake at least and would never recommend a beginner to ride brakeless and I do think its a little crazy to ride brake less..
wow that was long winded sorry

46x17

Stop calling it brakeless!

It is a drivetrain brake!

I don't pull kids in a trailer yet so I can't comment on how hard that would be with a drivetrain brake. However, I would most likely use a handbrake when doing it.
Drafting people without handbrakes is perfectly fine.
I have no idea why that would be irresponsible.
Going 50 miles plus so far has been fine without handbrakes.
Sure, there are situations where a brake would make life easier but the same is true for gears or engines or recumbents and yet I don't ride those either. It is not a convenience thing!
Is it a style thing? Yes, of course it is! The riding style derived from riding without a handbrake is much different in most cases that that of someone using a handbrake. Does it look better? Yes, it does! Does it feel better in your head? To me it does! Of course there is nothing that a bicycle without a handbrake can do that one with a handbrake can't but that fluid fixed riding style that we all look at in videos on the internet is easier to acquire when one is forced. It also makes you more careful!