Endorsed

Tim, please quote the post where you were disrespected.

bigbris - Your comment that people who rode with brakes were unskilled / lazy may have struck a nerve and it was actually pretty trollish.

You may be confusing lazy and unskilled with being smart and proactive.

1. Resourceful
2. Smart

Oh, I wasn't *personally* disrespected even though my tone seems to imply as such. But I was speaking to these specific comments:

(Which is actually kinda silly in and of itself considering that track bikes don't belong on the street anyway; they belong on the track. If riding a track bike on the street is accepted, why isn't slapping a brake on a track bike accepted? But I digress.)

Again, I wasn't *personally* disrespected. However, I choose to run with a brake on a track bike (well, it's a Kilo TT; I'm perfectly fine admitting it's not a track bike and saying it's a bike with track ends and track-ish geometry), I am neither too scared nor too lazy to run without it, and I know how to control my bike very well, thank you for asking.

Even Keirin riders use brakes on the road. It seems possible they're not lazy, scared, or clueless.

This thread is hilarious.

I got a story for you about the time I learned not to use a master link on a FG:

One day I was riding down Fifth Ave on the downward hill between 40th & 34th. I was between 2 busses when my chain popped. The busses closed in & I was gaining momentum down the hill. 38th, 37th, 36th...I was on the white lines with a bus on either side in their lanes. I mean there was about 2 feet between the two busses, not counting me & my bike.

As we approached 34th Street the light turned red. I would have sailed thru one of the busiest intesections in NYC & probably been hit by a taxi & blown clear inside the Empire State Building! Instict kicked in-I sat up on the bike, grabbed on to the window frames of either bus & as they braked for the red light at 34th, I came to a halt. My legs were shaking so bad I could hardly walk the bike to the curb. Man, the adreneline!

You know, I think that many drivers believe we can just hit the brake & stop if need be, and they don't realize we're not stopping until we reach our destination. A large part of driving is anticipation what the next man will do before he does it. This holds true with riding in traffic. You have to see it before it happens. When you can master this, bye bye brake!

word

That was not my intent & I think the context of the complete statement I made inferred that.

Keirin riders don't need brakes on the track so it would make sense they would need a brake on the road.

Sure, it's accepted....look at how many people do it. I can't speak for other areas...just my own, but read my last post re: riding styles. Too many people ride fixed brake-focused even though their handbrake won't stop their bike as it would on a road bike.

Bike riding on any bike is dangerous, but assuming that riding fixed with a handbrake is ALWAYS less dangerous is wrong.

This forum has always passed off brakeless riders as clueless, unintelligent and illogical or just plain "hipsters" without ever asking why some of us will never use a handbrake on their track/fixed bikes.

https://www.ridethetrack.com/

Beginner sessions every Saturday.

We know who we are & why we do it.

I imagine the false sense of security a person must have going faster than they would without a brake, only to squeeze their front brake in a panic moment & fly over the handlebars or lock up the front wheel & skid face first into the ground. To answer my own question, this is what I think. I would never ride any bike with only a front brake for that very reason.

1. looks fun.
2. looks safe.

not much to hate about it

And those people will learn how incorrect they are soon enough. But to assume that ALL fixed-gear riders who ride with a brake share that mindset is just as bad as assuming that...

That's what I'm on about; the prejudice (on both sides of this issue) frustrates me.

If you are going to ride brakeless you should practice the ted shred for situations like this, and keep a better eye on your chain tension.




I ride brakeless and when friends I know ask me about getting into, I always tell them they should definitely throw a brake on for awhile. Even I think having a brake makes sense, but I do also feel that riding brakeless gives you a differnt concept on riding. Its certainly not as practical, but to me makes it funner. This is BF, the general consensus here has always been ride a brake, no need to fight over it more.

I should have stated that this happened back in 1996. When I built my first track bike (non-conversion) & used a chain masterlink.

+1

i actually got my centurion frame that i converted out of the dump xD
it rides really nicely, is fun, and looks like a beater... which it is.

Jesus Christ, would you please cut the bull**** and get a f'ing clue? All the trolling, thinly veiled insults, and the verbal diarrhea and misinformation that you spew are the reasons why no one can take you seriously.

O.P. needs to read up on Sheldon's theories on this. I have and still do ride fixed with and without a brake and think that a brake is the way of a serious cyclist. You call it a false sense of security, it is more like being able to go as fast as you want, whenever. I love brakeless riding but only in the city when you dont get as much room to break out and really build up speed, especially downhill.

i dont even look at those two options,

i just judge them by their skin color.







bwahahahahhahaha
jk.

>.>
<.<



1 - conversion, i think - this guy/girl has not heard of the mercier kilo tt
2 - brake ("you're ruining the scene man!!!" hahahahaha. i think, wow this guy is smarter than most")

1. same as above, why does this person have an old piece of junk when track geo is so much cooler? mixed with feelings of "i love my kilo"

2. i think "well at least they're not ruining tires."

but seriously, i just agree, as always, with peabody.

It's not the bike that tweaks me.... it's the rider/owner, and the extent some go to be part of their little clique. If I see a guy, pants rolled up, t-shirt, fixed and cruising downtown... nice bike!

If I see a guy, pants super-tight, rolled up, ****ty american apparel shirt, ascot or hankerchief, mutton chops connected to a mustache, vintage cycling cap, no helmut, practicing "bmx tricks", well... he looks like a tool and a riding cliche.

Same with other bikes though, roadie in spandex, no biggie. Roadie in full on super-pro gear, shaved legs, riding a $5000 bike while cruising at slow-pokey 15mph at a park? tool. If you want to ride like your on The Tour, head outside the city and but out a 100 miles at 20+ mph.

Anyway.... I'm sure I look like an idiot to tons of people I pass. I'm sure we all look like idiots to someone.

it depends on whether they're riding it or walking it while sipping a soy latte in wicker park

brakes are a GOOD IDEA, especially in the city where stupid things happen incessantly.

Keirin racers (professionals) have a brake for insurance purposes if they get into an accident training on the road.

1) I get stoked when I see a conversion. You rarely see a conversion here in Japan. Most people with a conversion out here probably know a lot more than that kid who bought his keirin bike off of that Japanese auction site.

2) I check the rest of the bike to see if they are a serious enthusiast out training or a hipster. I have never ridden fixed with brakes. But I am seriously thinking of buying a Panasonic FP39 (their road training track frame set up for both front and rear brakes). Sometimes I really feel limited going down hills on narrower roads with traffic. Going down hills is the only part my geared Crosscheck is better than my track bike because of the brakes.

1. There goes a guy with some possible mechanical skills.
2. There goes a guy with some possible idea of safety.