pedex

till its raining, sleeting, ice storming, or snowing hard

I still ride a SS road bike with just a front brake sometimes, did that for years, but when the weather goes to crap, brakes are about worthless, my track bike doesnt care a bit.

Real riders ride even when the weather is crap, I work for a living, keep your hipster BS to yourself. A brakeless track bike is about as close as can be made to do the job, low maintenance, and works in all weather.

DasProfezzional

Feck brakeless. At least on the street. At least for me. I don't care how anybody else rides, but you do ride faster and more safely when you're braked (?,) no matter what the conditions.

On the subject of the which, what in the sam hill are you talking about "when the weather goes to crap?" That's what salmon pads are for. Durrr.

Kool-Stop represent.

Cave

Brakes! Pah. You should have bunnyhopped the van.

sniks

true say!

deathhare

Maybe i havent been riding these bikes long enough to appreciate or understand the whole brakeless thing. At this point its kind of laughable to me but, again, im a noob when it comes to fixies. Ive been riding bikes serious since i was in H.S. Im 34 now. I like to go fast and thats also one of my problems. Racing BMX for 15 years has engrained that instinct in my brain. I like to haul ass and at the moment feel like i couldnt go as fast without my brake on there. Using tons of energy on a boring thing like slowing down because i dont have brakes seems ********. I like to use my energy and strength for fun things. Like cranking up hills and sprinting. For me, the biggest downside to brakeless isnt the danger. I think i could easily chill out and get used to it no problem. Its not that hard really. The biggest downside to brakeless for me is the energy waste that it is. Thats just a total drag.

SamHouston

I've never much understood this debate, I've ridden both myself & find I'm able to adapt to either. Faster or slower is dependent on gearing + rider & cadence. Stopping power well there's a difference there, brakeless do not stop as quickly & as I know I can find the point at which my front wheel loses traction & stay just behind it, or just over it without going ove or down, I'll prove my front brake + fixed will outstop any brakeless, any rider against their best hockey stop at equal speeds..unless I'm going faster, in which case I'd still stop faster. 1 car length, done it before.

To the OP, no need to go over those bars for an emergency stop, work on stopping faster without actually practicing emergency stops, since that's just asking for trouble. Unless you're riding a pursuit bike head over ass you should be able to reposition your weight toward the rear quickly & smoothly enough (with practice, over time) to use any amount of power on the front brake without going over, even to & past the point of locking up the front wheel immediately. Start slow & don't get stupid.
This doesn't mean you should adjust your riding against conditions just because you CAN stop quickly, because an emergency quickstop still feels like hell & will put your heart in your throat (& way hard on equipment), it's more of a last resort, like I'd expect myself or any brakeless rider to be able to hockeystop at any time, doesn't mean they want to, it's not exactly fun & that too is hard on equipment.


Just be sure to maintain your equipment, rim brakes work in any weather with varying degrees of success. They still moderate speed well in rain, snow or ice when properly maintained & used to conditions. This is an example of a properly maintained & working front brake;

Yes, after a coffee & a smoke I cleaned all 40+lbs of ice off that ride so it'd be ready in the morning, no reason to expect the next day to be better, although it was. Warning to time pressed people: Cleaning, checking the front brake may add 1-2 minutes, but probably not.

Not just your brake, or for you brakeless, a skid, skip or especially a hockeystop isn't going to work out well for you if you're riding around with torn straps, a beat ass drivetrain or loose cleats/pedals, or worse, no idea of whether or not you can pull off any type of brakeless stop.

I've probably said it before, anyone on one side of this argument or the other failed to grasp something along the way. You don't see the smart riders arguing this much, they just say "for you" and keep riding.

dirtyphotons

[165], can you sticky this?

not the thread just that one paragraph.

SamHouston

That is not a properly maintained front brake up there..\goes to edit /now it is

BeantownFixed

I don't agree or disagree with the brake issue, I use a brake because I don't have that much experience skidding etc and have to work on my bike handling skills more. Your analogy of roadriding is BS though. True on a track the speeds are high, lots of contact etc but most crashes in road races are a factor of weather, tricky turns, road conditions etc not lack of bike handling skills or overuse of brakes. The track is a relatively controlled enviornment in comparison.

nayr497

What I think often fails to get mentioned in this debate is where you are riding a fixed gear bicycle. Many FG forum members live in urban areas, which tend to be mostly flat (yes, there are anamolies). Skidding, skipping and coming to a stop on flat ground is one thing. However, for those riders who live in hilly or mountainous areas, it is a little bit more difficult to stop on a continual basis using just leg power. I would be interested in seeing how many anti-brake flat-city riders would feel the same way if they regularly had to deal with stopping on steep hills AND facing the issue of chain break/drop on such hills.

LóFarkas

Ummm, learn how to use brakes?

b-ride

come to vancouver and follow me around at work for a day and i'll show you speed and control on hills in ****ty weather with no brakes. yes, maybe not as fast as if i had a brake, but pretty fast regardless.

pedex

tell that to the OP, I'm not the one that flew over the handlebars after grabbing a handful of front brake

but if you enjoy the extra time its takes to clean off the ice and snow from your brakes every 15 minutes and being extra careful stopping in bad weather, knock yourself out, Ive got business to attend to

roadgator

im always at a loss for how bent out of shape people get when you tell them running a brake would let them stop faster and thus be safer. dont tread on anyone's fashion or anything...

glad to hear you are safe.

these arguments are like saying you dont need to wear a seatbelt in a car because you are a safe driver, or if you get hit you would die with it anyway. ridiculous.

fibergoldfish

yeah I ride brakless one handed carrying food in brooklyn pretty much every night be it raining snowing or warm and pleasent, I used to ride with a brake, got a track frame not drilled for brakes and im doing fine, I weigh 110 lbs and have ****ing strong legs, I really dont have a problem stopping on a dime,

caloso

Can you carry food no-handed?

fibergoldfish

I believe that I have been served

ggg300

I must be the most evil person on here...I use all three....front/back/and crank

Ken Cox

When I first started riding fixed, I would challenge myself to complete a ride without using my brake.

Well, for that first year especially I used the brake every ride.

Two years ago I had a horrific fall because I used my brake: four broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a month without work.

Now I have a little more practice, and sometimes TWO rides go by without me using my brake, and sometimes two DAYS go by without me using my brake; and then...I need it four times in one ride.

I would so much like to ride a fixed gear bike without a brake.

I think I would need to ride for one entire month without using my brake, or even getting close to it.

If and when that happens, I will get a custom lugged-steel nickel-plated frameset with no hole in the fork for a brake, and I will build a bike around that frameset and ride it every day.

But until then, I ride with a brake.

deathhare

Someone said once that if you have a brake but rarely use it, you become unaccustomed to HOW to properly apply it in any given situation. Then the brake becomes a dangerous thing to use in an emergency.
Makes sense to me.
The less you use it the less you know it. I think the same goes with stopping without brakes.

illzkla

^seconded with experience

mander

I think it's more important to practice *hard* panic stops than simply to use a front brake a lot in regular situations. When the **** hits the fan even people on geared bikes (who go around braking quite a bit) can send themselves over the bars. Example: Mr Adrian Mander, Aug 2006

PS Hey b-ride i liked your blog entry about horseshoe bay ferry

LóFarkas

My last ever comment on brakeless, quoted from a physics professor:

You can't f.uck physics.

deathhare

...and that relates to brakeless how?

Sammyboy

Like this, I think.

With a fixed drivetrain, you can brake or lock the back wheel. With a front brake as well, you can brake or lock BOTH wheels. One of these two provides more stopping power. An oreo cookie for whoever knows the answer........