What's the story about riding fixed without a brake? Do any of you guys actually do that and live?

I'm at this stage in my life where I am embracing as many bad decisions as possible so I'm always on the look for a new bad decision.

no brake for me...sometimes it can get a little hairy scary, but usually everything is fine.

A lot of us here ride brakeless. See https://oldskooltrack.com/files/nobrakesok.frame.html for more info and links.

It's not a big deal. Just a different type of riding. (Though others will try to equate brakeless riding with murder. Beware of heathens.)

do what you feel safest doing. I always switch to my SS Steamroller when I get "that feeling" before a ride. Yes, I am superstitious.

i hate "that feeling." god i hate that feeling....

The oddest things always happen on those days too: homeless people throw **** at me, peds gettin overly cocky, cops want to chit chat, and I always seem to make 24 miles go quicker. When that feeling hits, I head for the alleys.

It's about as safe as a no brake bike can be.

Consider how many bikes are ridden every day with just a coaster brake. So I figure at absolute best case scenario, you'll have as good stopping power as a coaster brake.

OK, so how do I get started on a fixed? What sort of bike do I look for? Old bike with horizontal drops? What about tires, do most of you run 27x1 1/4 tires? Where do you get a fixed hub, etc.

I don't want to spend a ton of money in case I don't like it. I do have two bikes that are converted single speeds, one of them is a giant ocr with a singulator that i despise, and the other is my beater mountain bike which i love. Do you people ride these things in the rain? None of the bikes in the pic section seem to have fenders or racks. I'm sure I can think of a few dozen more questions. heh

How would this bike be?

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting


Thx

when i was first started riding fixed i rode with a brake. i ride brakeless now. i like it. it makes you pay even more attention. i think it just depends where and how you ride.

do NOT buy that crap applecart2 sells. it is pure junk. he just removes the cassette, redishes the wheel, screws on a cheapo track cog and a right hand thread lockring from a bottom bracket, if a lockring at all. that means the reverse pressure to slow is going to make the cog come unscrewed, bb lockring or not. which means you are screwed. you need a left hand thread lockring to be safe.

you ride a 51? i bought a very sexy italvega frame off of ebay that is a 52 that i'm converting to a fixie just to resell. it's a pretty interesting frame. no rear derailuer hanger at all and 120mm spacing. the only braze-ons are brake bosses. it was just asking to be a fixie. xcutterx and i laced up the wheels tonite. he's going to tension and true them tomorrow. i have spent 250 or so total on it. i don't want a profit what so ever. i could get a picture for you probably by tomorrow if you're interested. or anyone else for that matter. if no one is interested i'll probably just put it up on ebay...

I'm not really sure what I ride-- my ocr3 is a medium compact road, I'm 5'9" tall with something like a 30-31 inch inseam.

Thanks for the info on the ebay, I have pissed away a ton of money on my bike experience, the giant was a mistake. Seems like the only way I can learn anything is to spend a buttload of money only to find out if I like something or not. I like the simplicity of single speed-- fits me and my mechanical aptitutude and I want to be able to take care of my own bike. I ride all the time, everywhere, my bikes are my car. You would think I would know more about them but I really don't know ****.

As for your bike, or anyone else that would hook a brutha up-- can you tell I'm terminally white? Yeah, I might be interested in purchasing one of the extra bikes some of you guys seem to have too many of. Make your wife happy, get to sleep somewhere besides the couch. Heh.

I was thinking about picking up a Van Dessel straight up, they look pretty bullet proof, and the coaster brake would be OK. On the other hand, I like what I have seen with the singlespeed and fixed might be better.

And if we are in the mood for some swapping, i have that giant ocr 3, also have some of the parts that came with it, the sti brake shifter combo, old handlebar, and the rear sora derailer. Not to mention the singleator.

If any of the stuff I'm saying makes you thing I'm a dumbass or a newb this won't be anything I haven't called myself already.

When you first start out fixed it is probably a good idea to use at least a front brake. If you want to, after awhile, try to ride without brakes then just don't use the brake that is on the front of the bike and see if you can manage. I currently have 6 f/g bikes and one of them has front and rear(tandem) and two others have front only. Three have no brakes. I can honestly say I like each of them for what they are. Neither is (better) or (more true or pure) than the other. They each serve a purpose as they are geared differently. I do tend to ride the brakeless ones more often as I like the increased awareness that the brakeless ones encourage. You pays your money and takes your choice. The important thing is to have fun and not worry about being (Correct).


Fixedgearhead

when i was trying to ween myself off of my brake and tell myself not to use it, i still would. that's why i took it off. thanks to brakeless anonymous...

i think a straight up would be a great investment. i was thinking of getting one myself for winter riding. plus, you can buy a pre-built van dessel fixed/free wheel from them for 80 bucks or so. viola! fixed/free aluminum bike! hiyah! i think those frames are so sexy. those bars would have to go though.

yup..same with me.. I would always catch myself being lazy and use it...so off it came

I ride a 54:16 brakeless and I never have any problems.

Scratch that.

The only times I have problems are after doing two spin classes and then trying to ride home on snowy nights. Then I have problems.

Other than that no problems at all.

Get a fixie. Ride with a front brake until you are comfortable. Then take it off. You will be more aware of everything when you take the brake off and have a nice even smooth ride.

Matt

William, I thought you used the pedestrian as
the brake?

Marty

Guys, I already have a giant ocr 3 which is using a surly singlator, could I order this stuff and end up with a decent fixed? Or better to scrap the giant?:

arris Cyclery White Industries/Sun CR-18 Rear Wheel- Road-COPY 130 mm (frames made for 8 or more gears) $249.95 $249.95
Shimano Fixed gear sprocket 16 tooth, 3/32 $21.95 $21.95
Shimano Dura-Ace Lock Ring $7.95 $7.95
Sub Total $279.85
Sales Tax $0.00
Shipping & Handling $10.00
GRAND TOTAL $289.85

That would do it. You might have to play with the front chainrings/bb width to get a perfect chain line, but that would make a rather nice fixie to ride I'd imagine, especially if the bike currently fits you well.

if you have to use a brake, i dont think you should ride a fixed gear. seriously, why not just ride a road bike.

*****

haha j/k

or not

Ha Ha indeed. I HAVE to have a brake on my bike. No because I use it, I seldom do, mostly when I'm just lazy. I HAVE to because I have two young kids at home and it would suck to have them growing up hearing the story of having no dad because I wanted to be cool. Twice now I've used my brake in a car/bike incident. Both times the car stopped at the last moment so they wouldn't have hit me anyway, but had they flaked for a second it would have been the brake that saved my ass. Yes I can skid stop, but I can stop a lot faster with a front brake and I certainly can't skid while in a corner.
So I know you're only sort of just kidding, but I really don't see any problem with anybody riding with or without a brake. Unless they put a brake on a true track frame of course. (I'm really just kidding about that, honest)

I hate that feeling as well. I had that feeling thursday on my commute. I'm cruising with traffic and this genderless no mind pulls a right hand turn from the left lane of traffic, right in front of me. That's when I learned I didn't have brakes, and did the quick avoidance right turn all the while yelling "YO, YO, YO!" And it wasn't because my life was flashing before me.

Luckily, I survived. I would've made a big dent in the side of the SUV. I hope I'd of smacked the heck out of the tinted windows too. I was so Peeved. I cursed this person for the rest of the ride. By the time I made it to work I was over it.

skip the wheel braking works.