Okay, this must have been discussed before, but does anyone advocate riding brakeless with out toe clips or clipless. Cause I am seeing this a lot more, especially on some pretty fresh looking builds with wide-eyed young faced riders on them. I was about to lecture some very young lady in the park today who was about to ride off into heavy urban traffic with this set up, but instead choose to stare at her bicycle while shaking my head in obvious disapproval. Comments?

Toe clips (or clipless) are a necessity IMHO. It feels ******** to try to slow down on a fixie without them.

Not to mention you could easily lose your footing. I have a friend who is adamant that his Alpha Mercury came brakeless and that it was made for the velodrome and refuses to put toeclips on despite his obvious disability to slow down (bouncing, bumping, losing footing, jostling, etc.) and a garage full of great parts. He looks like a complete jackass, and acts like he's a god even though he can't even skip stop his 12-speed. I don't even know why he keeps whining about how "it's not that cool to have a fixie" even though I've wanted one long before he decided he wanted one and got the first one he saw on craigslist for under $300 a week later.

That's my rant. In conclusion, don't ride without clips even if you have a brake or two. You'll hurt yourself... and look like a jackass.

take a gun and shoot anyone you see going brakeless without toe clips or clipless. And Ted Shred, he's annoying.

toe clips just make sense on any bike for efficiency's sake. not to mention trying to stop.

that being said, my beater bike is brakeless with platforms. go figure.

i learned to ride this way. if you have a bike that you just use to piddle around on with coffee runs or whatever i think you can get away with it, depending on your environment. if you are in a low traffic, flat area and don't push a hard gear, it's not so bad (like i did in west texas). any other way is a little hectic and probably unnecissarily reckless.

Your friends argument holds less water then a seive. Even if you DO buy the argument that the bike should be kept in track racing configuration for some misguided sense of track purity, find me a bike raced on a track without a foot retension system. Racing without clips or clipless pedals would still be stupid in the extreme. You might as well also put on cyclocross knobbies, and a "lap me" sign on your back.

Stupid. I see a lot of kids ride this way, too. Or the famous clips and no straps. I need my clips and straps, so I will ride with them.

I rock nylon MTB clips and the straps that came with them. Maybe too beefy, but functional.

I have seen kids tearing it up brakeless with bmx platforms, but I know they've been riding for a while and know what they're doing. It's not something I'd reccomend, but I've been thinking about trying it for an afternoon with some low azz gear.

its seriously so dangerous to ride with that setup

I was riding a fixed-gear with plastic platforms and a brake, and even that felt terrifying. My feet were constantly slipping off the pedals and one hill in particular felt like it would toss me out of the saddle.
I switched to a bike with spiky metal platforms... a little better, but not so much. I still ride with a brake, but the toe clips and straps feel necessary while riding fixed, with or without the brake.
But then again... I'm a bit of a wimp, so whatever.

edit: I'm usually pretty live-and-let-live about bike choices, but that seems like one choice that could seriously harm people around you if you lose control of your bike, so... yeah, kind of a ****headed move.

It's their funeral; I've long since stopped caring. I figure if you want to risk your safety, that's all on you. Just don't crash into me.

I've met a few people who can pull off flat pedals on a brakeless fixed-gear, but they are in the minority. When skidding/skipping they would put their front foot underneath the pedal.

I also know a few people who have flat pedals on their polo bikes, but those things are at like 40 gear inches.

I can skip with out pedal retention.

I used to agree with this, until the time I stopped at a red and the dip**** riding brakeless/platforms behind me nearly plowed me over due to his lack of ability to stop, likely due to his lack of foot retention. If it truely was their funeral/emergency room then that would be fine, but other people's stupid choices affect everyone around them. If you can ride platforms safely, then more power to you, but the majority of people don't seem to be able to.

Theres a guy I see on campus that rides a fixie with platforms, brakeless, AND a rear quick release. I don't even know why he would build a hub like that.

EDIT: I forgot to mention he always wears sandals.

Now that's just ********. I hope he gets hit by a truck so nobody gets the bad influence.

I rode fixed on platforms without clips for the longest before I went clipless because toe clips felt sloppy and hard on my knee. I lost my footing maybe once; I actually barsh my crotch a lot more now on clipless when trying to clip in for some reason.

If I didn't see that you are from Philly, I would wonder if you are from my school.

We have a guy here that rides around just like that.

heck....i'd say do it while you can if you can pull it off. some day when you start to run lean on physical or mental ability.....or road....you can look back and say hey that was cool. though finding someone who cares might be even harder than surviving. sometimes you gotta test yourself, but the main thing is to enjoy the ride and even the suffering.

the best thing i have ever seen was a bike with clips and what appeared to be straps... but upon further inspection were actually neon zip-ties.

Whenever I slow down I always have the problem of bouncing in my seat. Now I see its because I dont have straps. But anyways I usually ride in flipflops. Can I wear those with straps? ANd I do have brakes

LOL read the threads above about guys in sandals. Must be one at every school haha. I think I am "that guy" at my school.

Sounds like a Boss song:
"Well, we made a promise, swore we'd always remember
No belt, baby, noooo...suspenders."

They make sandals that are compatible with SPD cleats. Personally I think sandals are awful, but my bike folk hero Sheldon Brown loves them. perhaps he was "that guy" when he was in college...

There are problems with platforms as several people have pointed out, but as long as you run a brake it's really not that big of a deal. If you like it, do it but understand the drawbacks.