I ride with a front brake only on my single speed, nothing wrong with that.

No video necessary. All you need to learn is how to shift your back towards and even over the rear wheel. With a little practice it becomes automatic and you can rely on the front brake for just about everything.

No. Wut's on second.

But Who's on first.

going fast, need to stop quick. Apply pressure to both brakes, apply more pressure to front and less to rear, continue applying more front and less rear. WOW easy.
applying alot of force to the front brake quickly is not difficult. Ive never ever come close to "flipping over"
id hate to see some of you ride a motorcycle with this rear brake only idiocy.

CANT STOP, DONT WANT TO.

****ing morons.

fixed gear, front brake + "your legs" =rear brake or two brakes.
or brakeless if you prefer... i did for awhile but you just cannot stop as quickly with just your legs, because weight transfers.
geared and single speed, TWO brakes, front and rear.

How can you compare a motorcycle to a bicycle? Much more weight to stop and at higher speeds.

Someone may need to quit drinking.

I'd like to see some of you pedal a truck fixed gear.

Didn't realize I started such a contentious discussion. Apparently there are some strong feelings about the use of brakes for both single speed and fixed gear. It seems that most will use both front and rear on a single speed and front or no brake on a fixed gear. I've been encouraged to try the fixed gear and I think I will but I will also install a front brake. Depending how much I use it will decide whether it's a keeper.

You will be new and inexperienced, it makes sense to keep it even if you don't use it often. I have been riding for four years and didnt start to consider myself experienced until earlier this year and still I don't feel I can entirely call myself and experienced rider.

tldr
Don't be hasty

I'll admit, I had a front and rear brake when I tried FG for the first time. I was scared of backpedaling, worried about the health of my knee ligaments. That was several years ago, I didn't enjoy myself too much and went back to singlespeed.

This time around I have only a front brake and made a point of having as much control of the FG bike as possible, by applying a bit of back pressure most of the time, while pedaling slowly. So.... now I am using backpressure almost exclusively, to stop. Knees feel fine, to my surprise, though I have not biked down a hill with the FG, yet.

I'd start out with the front brake too. Don't worry about the arguments here, that's just SSFG being SSFG.

When you figure out your gearing and get more experienced like hairnet said, that will have some impact in your decision too. I don't bother with a front brake on my 48x19 short-distance bike, but I keep one on my 48x17 long-distance bike (and I know a lot of people run 48x17 brakeless).

Not even once??? You're missing out.

That's what intimidates me the most with fixed speed. There are hills where I live and trying to find the balance between back pressure on the pedals and using the front brake could be a difficult skill to learn. Gonna have to try it though.

I ran SS with a front brake only for almost a year. I don't see how people are "flipping over" when they slam the front brake.

I don't quite understand the logic of only running a front on a SS.

Would you only run a front on a geared bike?

Singlespeed bikes need front and rear brakes because this provides control and modulation on less than perfect surfaces and terrain. You can ride with a front brake most of the time, but not all of the time.

I had thought we had evolved past the brakeless fixed gear, save for use on the track.

Not difficult at all. On paper it seems like it, but once you're on the bike it's pretty easy. The more you use the front brake on the downhill, the less you'll use your legs. Use the brake steadily and your legs are just going along with the cranks for an easy ride.

Hopefully your downhills are open and safe to bomb down, so you won't even think about using your brake. Lots of times they lead to an uphill anyway, and I like having some momentum for that.

Probably not, but they come with two brakes. When I bought my bike it came with only the front, so I just ran with it and I never had an issue.

If you bought a geared bike with only one brake, would you not add another one?

What would evilcryalotmore do?

Hahahaha. Really letting him have it today huh?

Probably yeah but that's not the same. If I had a geared bike it would be to go flat out as fast as I could on the straights and to climb, which I don't do now because of my GI/hills here. So because I'd use it differently I would use two brakes on a geared bike.

+1

http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html explains this very well, too.

To the OP, just a front brake is perfectly fine to stop your single speed bicycle promptly and efficiently, provided it does not fail. The risk is up to you.

He earned it.

I'm failing to see the logic. Losing control at any speed is gonna ****ing suck.