Aldone

Little phisic experiment

take a nice bike with nice disk brakes and freewheel

Pedal hard, take speed and try to stop as quicky as possible using:

a - front brake
b - back brake

a - bike stops immediately (rider can fly over bars)
b - bike stops after a few meters

dirtyphotons

so true. which is a shame because if you're a physics student you can't f.uck girls either...

SamHouston

That's great funny, cept I had a roomie with big brains who made out like a bandit but maybe he was the exception proving that rule to all the ladies

dirtyphotons

haha, maybe it's not a rule at all. just personal experience

Ken Cox

I can see that.

When I upgraded my front brake, I looked hard at the lightest, lastest and greatest Dura Ace front brake.
Several people described it as very powerful and effective.

My lbs bike mechanic suggested Cane Creek's single-pivot super-light alternative, saying that in addition to weighing less than the Dura Ace, it wouldn't throw me over the handlebars.

I went with the Cane Creek brake.

caloso

I read somewhere that Einstein was hound. And Heisenberg was a disgusting perv.

dirtyphotons

on his death bed isaac newton, the man who established modern physics AND invented calculus (debatable) said that the thing he was most proud of was dying a virgin.

dutret

Why though?

pedex

learn how to ride a track bike and find out for yourself

dutret

I can and I see absolutely no reason to limit myself by not having brakes or waste money on tires.

pedex

your gonna waste some money one way or the other, either brake pads and rims, or tires, or both, take your pick--there's no free lunch here


here in central ohio during salt season doing 300 miles a week slinging packages, road bike brake pads last about 10 days of work, rims a few months, tires about 2 months give or take depending on how aggressively you ride

dutret

That explains why you might want to favor your legs sometimes but nothing about why you would really like to ride a bike without a brake.

Also I don't buy those numbers.

ryand

))<>((
i think this arguement is going to go:
back and forth forever.

pedex

beacuse once you learn how to stop without out it and find yourself never using it, it becomes just something else you dont need

dont know what to tell you about the numbers cept come out here and give it a shot, but Ive had this same discussion with several of the other messengers here and they will tell you the same thing

for example, davey rocket rides a merckx leader in titanium with campy record, he goes thru front pads in winter every 2 weeks

tim rides a specialized cross bike with V-brakes, he gets about 3 weeks out of a set

when I was riding the schwinn with just a front brake I was using diacompe pads which are quite thick, they tended to last a bit longer at the expense of alot more rim wear

the guys that run shimano get about 2-3 weeks out of 105 style pads

Ive been doing this for going on 5 years now, you learn how long stuff lasts

brake pads + salt + alloy rims = short life for all of it , its a fact of life, you wanna play, then you have to ante up and pay

someof the guys like mike, kenny, and jeff have gone to discs, I havent talked to anyone but kenny about those, but he says they dont last too long either, but at least they work well in bad weather

kludge

i am a hipster.


i am a brakless bike riding hipster.


this conversation is really really really stupid.


some of us can managae with out a brake....a lot of could manage with out a brake, its all about what works for you. this conversation is like all the people here who wear a size 7 shoe that anything else is stupid and unsafe. well, i dont wear a size 7, i wear an 11.

im one of those stupid ass SF kids with out a brake. since ive been without a brake, the ride is the same, i ride just as fast and i take the same hills i did before(except the stupid steep hill, front brake, front and back brake set ups are still scary on these hills).

the important thing....brake or no brake is to pay attention in traffic. pure and simple. i trust NO ONE on the road, everyone is a potential enemy. if i doubt the actions of a driver or cyclist for a second i know to back off. dont be a dumb ass, s*hit does happen, but make sure that what ever you ride.....you ride it safe. doesnt mean that a commuter with front and back brakes, helmet, lights, neon reflective tape and side view mirrors are any better, its the skills and i dont know, COMMON SENSE that will get you in and out of messy situations.

when im in traffic i see cyclist do some of the dumbest crap, and i ask myself "you must have a death wish!" and this is coming from a brakeless hipster.

dutret

It is something you need though. No matter what you cannot ride at the same speed with a brake as you can without without sacrificing safety. It's just a fact. Only use it when you have to stop fast and any wear issues cease to exist. It's never a thing you just don't need unless you are satisfied with less speed or safety. Maybe you are. I'm not and doubt I ever will be. It has nothing to do with knowing how to ride a track bike and everything to do with what I am willing to sacrifice. The 5min every 1000+ miles it takes me to replace pads is far worth it instead of having to ride less safely or slower. There is no question in my case(and the vast majority of others) that the cost of pads is far less then that of tires whenever I have to go down a super steep hill or stop unexpectedly.

I'm not going to argue about the numbers but they still seem a little exaggerated.

Kludge if you think you can ride as fast without brakes as you can with without sacrificing safety you are seriously out of touch with reality. It's not like shoe size it's about what you are willing to sacrifice and I have never heard a single rational argument for why you should take a brake off a bike.

mihlbach

Dutret. I'm a brake user myself, and its true that using a brake allows you to be faster. You don't waste your energy slowing down, and you can go much faster through traffic, knowing that you can always stop quickly. However, I don't think you'll ever win with the arguement of speed - if people were interested in riding as fast as they could, they wouldn't use fixed gears in the first place. Riding brakeless is a unique style of riding..its as different from road riding as is mountain biking. SOme people are into that style, while others are not. It doesn't matter that one style is slower than another. If speed mattered, we'd all be riding motocycles. I run a brake most of the time and I use it...its just better suited to the riding that I do. However, I like brakeless sometimes, it changes the whole experience of riding.
However, you can't really ride with a brakeless style by keeping a brake for emergencies but not using it most of the time. If you have a brake, you will always end up using it. Its analogous to having a geared bike but only using one gear...you will always end up changing gears. Its just not the same as riding SS or fixed.

kludge

dutret, no disrespect, i hear you opinion and i have mine but.....


I'm not trying to make an argument to take the brake off. I'm simply trying to say that its meaningless to argue one way over the other, because people will always do what makes them happy. I have my reasons for why i dont have one(BIG ******** EGO.......kidding). and i still do think that i ride just as fast with or with out. I'm saying this out of my own experience of NOT running it hard at every turn alll the time FASTER FASTER FASTER!!! You wouldnt drive 80 miles an hour down every street. I ride accordingly. adjust to the situation. I'm not a light runner, I dont cut people off.

I'm trying to make the point that a brake might or might not be a good idea, in the end it's the way people ride that ultimately decides the outcome.....unless of course you get T-boned, if thats the case, it wont matter what you have on or off the bike, yer still F*cked

killsurfcity

i never had a brake on my skateboard. i bombed hills. it was dangerous. it was a ***** slowing down, but it was worth it for the fun.

i run a front brake for various reasons. but that's me. i understand brakeless, it makes sense to me, like skateboarding. unfortunately it's purpose is unquantifiable. aren't so many good things in life? you do what makes you feel good, for as long as it does. you take the risks if they are there and if that is what you want out of life. it's not about "works best", it's not about "stops fast", it's about having soul and being super bad.

and that is what makes this arguement pointless.

b-ride

hahaha, yah, one of the few times i really could have used a brake!

sunsurfandsand

PURPLE!

It was a case of statutory grape.