Here are a few words of caution:

When you buy a new chain, keep checking the tension and don't let it stretch too far.

Here is a brief story to illustrate why this is important (especially if you ride brakeless):

A few weeks ago I bought a new PC-1 Nickel Plated SRAM. Over the next few weeks of riding the new chain stretched out a bit. A few days ago I noticed it had a good bit of slack and decided I should retension the drive-train. I've been moving/subleasing/finishing classes and everything has been hella busy lately so I postponed the five minutes of work that would be needed to retension the drive-train.

Last night as I was riding southbound on Clark - coming up quickly on the Fullerton intersection - I felt the pedals lose power. At the same moment my light turns orange and I'm still about 30 feet from the intersection. I keep going since I can safely make it through (I'm going pretty fast). Anyway, I make it through, and then a car starts to pull out of a space RIGHT in front of me. And I can't stop so I do what any normal human being would do; I jam my foot in the front wheel.

The world blurs, spins, and I feel everything tumbling, tangling, spinning, and crunching onto the blacktop. Finally I come out of my dramatic dismount, only to realize that I flipped over the handlebars, and am sliding on my back/shoulder/arm down Clark Street. Then everything is fine. My arm hurts a little and my left foot is still in the toe-clip, but I'm not seriously physically damaged. An older guy jumps off the curb and asks me if I'm alright. I'm fine, tell him so, thank him for his concern, tell him jokingly that "I'm built to last" and walk my bike a block to my apartment.

When I get home, I put my chain back on and retension my rear wheel. My front wheel is out of true now but nothing that can't be fixed with some patience and wheel-truing.

And today my arm is a little sore and I have a bit of road rash but other than that I'm fine.

I thought I'd put this up as a quick cautionary tale to those who ride fixed gear, especially brakeless. I'm not saying you shouldn't ride brakeless, and I'm not going to start using brakes either but the message is simply "keep your drive-train happy."

Have a happy and healthy day!

There's a trick I learned from the dudes that ride those tall bikes, they use the heel of their shoe aganst the tyre of the rear wheel, and apply pressure to the tyre to stop. If you loose the cranks tension, you can brace your foot against the BB or chainstay, and slow, and stop that way. I've tried it and it works, althouh it puts a dent in your heel.

Anyone else have tips on stopping when the chain busts or drops off?

Mr. Vegan..... Glad you're all right. That sure must have been a scarry moment. When you said you lost pedal power, did the chain break or simply derailled? As for me, I will continue to ride with a front brake. I just don't know how to efficiently come to stop without using my brake when I'm running 76".

damn, that sucks. so what happened? was your chain skipping over the cogs?

i usually watch for the pedestrian light as i approach intersections. if it's blinking red then i make sure i'm riding slow enough that i can stop easily if i get yellow. if not, i power through. one time i was going really fast and saw the ped light blinking red, and decided to power through, since i was going close to 30mph in fast traffic. the light turned yellow when i was still pretty far from the intersection, and i decided to stop. after a series of hard skids with smoke coming out of my tire, i was able to slow down enough to where i could turn onto the crosswalk to use the extra distance to stop. scary, but it gave me a good gauge for how much distance i need to stop at high speed.

if i were to lose my drivetrain somehow, i'd stick the tip of my foot between the rear wheel and the seat tube, locking the wheel. if i were on my own on the road of course, i'd take less drastic measures... like carving hard until i slow down, fishtail, etc.

glad you're ok.

If you're going to ride a fixed gear track bike on the streets, at least put some real brakes on it. While walking downtown last month I was hit by a cyclist on a fixed gear bike riding the sidewalk. Besides the fact that he shouldn't have been cycling on the sidewalk in the first place, I'm convinced that if he had real brakes on his bike, which, BTW, is also legally required by the Oregon vehicle code, I wouldn't have been hit.

randya, i hope you're not trolling.

according to oregon vehicle code, chapter 815 section 280 paragraph (a), "A bicycle must be equipped with a brake that enables the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement."

a fixed gear bike can certainly skid the braked wheel--the brake being the drivetrain itself. so there's nothing illegal about riding a brakeless track bike. othewise you'd see messengers getting ticketed at every corner.

you were hit because the guy was riding on the sidewalk when he wasn't supposed to, not because he didn't have brakes.

Thanks for all your concern, it's totally appreciated. What happened to cause the chain to jump was a combination of things, one being that the chain was too loose. The other part of the equation is that my front cog has a small dent in it, which can cause the chain to jump if it's hit JUST right. And I guess the combination just caused it to jump.

And Randya: I do have brakes on my fixed gear. I can use my feet to stop perfectly by skipping slightly and slowing down my cadence; even when my chain popped off I stopped (almost) perfectly. And ANY person riding their bike on the sidewalk is a hazard, people who do that need to think of not only their own safety, but the safety of others. The only time I ride on the sidewalk is on my way from the bike rack to the curb.

total number of crashes for dvegan since may = 3

Annualized Yield: 9 crashes
Be careful, Mr. Vegan...

Damn DV-
Glad yer okay. Did anyone yell "Mullet Down! We've got a mullet down!"???

It is bad when some drop-assed MF'r decides to swing out in front of you, or when a mechanical failure happens, but a combo punch like that sucks. Nothing like those few moments of final speculation before the impact occurs. Last time I was hit (almost 2.5 yrs ago) I went over the hood of a car at Milwaukee/Hubbard/Union intersection...some lame-o pulled out in front of me (he was turning left) and I swung around to the left so I didn't eat **** and get run-over. I ended up impacting just behind the fr tire passenger side (nice big dent!) and going over the hood with bike still clipped in. I left fingernail scrathes (6 total), 3 dents (NY Chain around the waist) and scuffs (shoes). Damage to me: fr wheel = retrued (MA3 rims rule!), fork = dead and buried: my front tire was damn near my rear. The crown and tube were barely together. Helmet = smushed from landing impact on front and right rear sections. Bullhorns = RIP. Headset = RIP.
Oh, the car was a Black Porsche 911.
They wanted to sue me, blah blah blah, so I called the cops and had some witnesses hang around. Hee hee...they ended up giving me a ride home and some cash to get a new fork.

Thanks Fixer, I'm always careful, and I do think AL5 is playing up the number of crashes a little bit. I've been HIT once since May, and flipped myself around a few times but that never involved other people really...

165: That's pretty brutal! That's sweet that you got $$ for a new fork. People tend to think that they have the right of way when bikes are involved, and that they can just cut us off, but when it comes down to it a car hit a cyclist, not vice versa. Stupid people.

fback in the day when i rode bmx i rode brakeless... if you slam your foot down on the <i>back</i> tire with the weak part of your foot (your instep? between the ball of your foot and your heel) you should be all good... although it does wear out shoes... and it's definately differtn on a fixie rather than a bmx with 23" or whatever tires... i've only had to do it on a fixie once, and never since i went clipless (i imagine it'd be way different with bike shoes) but yeah... at least you're ok...

hah crazy.

i heard a guy talk about how he's seen some kids in NYC riding freewheel with no brakes and no coaster brake, and i thought he was making stuff up. he said they were either dragging their feet on the ground or stomping the rear wheel to stop.

i wonder what the guys who think brakeless fixed gear is nuts think about that =)

i only rode trails and ramps like that, there's no way i'd ride the hills in SF that way... it was good fun tho...

Yeah, I ride Flatland BMX (not much anymore, but I rode a lot a few years ago) and I rode brakeless. The only real problem was getting to and from my favorite parking lot with no brakes. I did the rear-wheel thing too though.

The only problem with that on my fixie is that I have a fender.....