I had to do a double take the other day when, walking through central London I noticed that some LUNATIC was riding a fixed wheel with no brakes through the middle of town. Are all you guys this crazy???

it's not that unusual for some of us to ride brakeless

Do you live in a city as congested and dangerous as London???

so, whats your point scroz?

No point, just convo

We are all at least that nuts. Half of us do it blindfolded in heavy traffic and let intuition guide us between cars and around peds. We're almost always under the influence of some sort of chemical substance, too. Personally, I like riding while on mescaline, though I've heard riding brakeless in traffic is made all the better by peyote.

At least the guy was on a fixie and not a brakeless singlespeed, now that would be excitement...for a short time

Ok youre going to have to forgive my ignorance here. The difference between a fixed wheel and a single speed is???

A singlespeed has a freewheel, meaning you can coast. A fixed gear has no coasting mechanism, so when the crank turns the wheel turns, and vice versa. On a fixie you can brake with your legs, making a hand brake optional.

i have a friend who had only a front brake on his singlespeed. the cable snapped so he just took the brake off and stopped by jamming his foot against the tire between the seatstays and vertical tube. he probly rode a few hundred miles this way until his new bike which was on order came in

There is no spoon.

When I was a kid I rode brakeless and helmetless on my BMX bike, to stop, I put my foot on the front tire. Never crashed once but I did catch my shoe on fire once going downhill near Folsom Damn in Sacramento.

I don't have guts like that anymore.

And oh, how the badger weeps.

Lol. Nice...on the trail or the road?

I rode brakeless bmx (flatland w/ zero offest) up until about a year ago. Commuted on the sucker too.

The primary active chemical in peyote is mescaline, sucka!!!

Heh....so it is. I guess that makes peyote repetitive. Time to dig up some acid.

The best feeling is when you're cruising down the street at speed and that big white van pulls in front of you and stops all of a sudden, giving you the choice of stopping dead in your tracks (not the easiest thing without brakes), quickly flicking your wheel and swerving into traffic, or crashing into the back of the van. I usually start trying to stop, realize I'm about to get personal with the rear window, and then abort and just throw myself into traffic. I hardly even get mad at the people now because it gives me such a jolt that I'm usually happier afterwards (unless I crash of course)

scroz. if you've got a fast net connection go here and check out some of the cycling videos, 'NYC dragrace' for instance. You'll see that not all insane people ride single speed or fixed.

Not to take the wind out of your sails but we've been watching Lucas Brunelle videos forever and a day. Heck some of us are probally in those videos.

i think the link to the brunelle vids was for the benefit of scroz, who probably has not been watching them forever and a day.

This morning while riding to class, a big white delivery truck driving in front of me thought that making an unsignaled, left-hand u-turn across two lanes of traffic was a perfectly acceptable maneuver. I pulled a brakeless lunatic left-right swerve around the front of the truck into the opposite bike lane. I decided that it was a lot of fun afterward when I realized that I was still stitched together and breathing.

You know, I really need to learn how to read.

Ah memories of meeting me first brakeless messenger - Clerkenwell and Grays Inn rd, middle of intersection, no hand trackstandin, holdin a box under one arm to be delivered. All class.

I was hooked from then on.

I can dodge bullets?