well, that just proved it and to echo [MENTION=71040]europa[/MENTION] a bit:

your whole issue is about your self perceived superior status and image- separating yourself from all those lowly "annoying hipsters" in your "scene".

I'd be worried more about interpersonal issues rather than what style of drive-train other people are riding.

Can't we all just ride bikes and stfu?

This.

You really ****ing think that because your bike, a fixed gear - bikes some of the most massively inflated prices and stupid people (not unlike yourself) willing to buy them at steep prices - that now you magically have a theft deterrent? What makes your bike more theft proof? Please inform me.

Anyway, bike snob explained it best: race cars put on high end brakes in order to stop faster, thus allowing them to continue to go fast.

Can this dude get banned already? He either gives ****ty mechanical advice, ****ty general advice or starts troll threads like these.

That would require the OP to actually read the posts here as opposed to ranting about why no one is smart enough to understand his question.

I use a brake only so OP can make a stupid thread about it.

who gives a flying **** what anyone else is doing? i dont, and you shouldnt either, since its obviously got your panties in a bunch

This thread is ****ing awesome. Mods, please make it a sticky.

Some of the people you see riding fixed on the street (like me) actually spend considerable time on the track. They put in mileage for fitness on the street so it's sometimes logical to expect to see them on a track bike. I have 2 track bikes that take a brake, and 2 that don't. If riding downtown just for fun, I will more likely take one with a brake, just because at over 50, I don't like crashing into things because I can't stop. I studied Physics in University, so I realize that the coefficient of static friction is greater than the coefficient of dynamic friction, therefore I am fully aware that skidding is a really bad way of stopping compared to a brake, and I no longer have the need to look cool by riding a brakeless bike. Good enough reasons?

I don't give a crap about who notices that I happen to be riding fixed. I enjoy it for a multitude of other reasons, image not being any of them. And yes, I have a front break.

I don't ride my FG (with brake) to imitate a track bike.

Lol, clearly.

O rly? But SF has a bunch of people that ride brakeless!??!!? (as seen below) Doesn't sound like your deterring anyone...

But you "live by logic"

[IMG]********************************data/media/67/tumblr_lq3tuw2IGe1qkecs9o1_500.gif[/IMG]

OP is short on reason and social skills, but I'll play Devil's Advocate here...

This word "zen" that gets tossed around, it means a very specific thing. Practicing zazen is about bringing the mind to a state of emptiness, so that reality is being experienced as such, directly, in every moment. This is found to an extent in the experience of riding fixed, and more so brakeless.

Riding brakeless requires stepping up one's game, not only in conditioning and bike handling but just as importantly in observation and decision making. Only in such a heightened state of awareness can a situation be encompassed and acted upon with unobstructed reflexes. I have yet to ride a velodrome but I'm guessing this is a large part of the appeal of track racing.

On the streets, going brakeless involves riding much more conservatively with much greater awareness. It's another kind of practice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikantaza

I don't take nearly the same amount of risk as I do when the brake is available. I ride a smaller gear more slowly, maybe even walking the bike if circumstances dictate. In this way I'm safer without the brake. And technically speaking it's about the same as riding a coaster brake anyways.

Of course anyone that rides brakeless all out hard and fast is a dumbass, and they'll learn soon enough. Maybe if they actually spent some time sitting zazen they wouldn't behave so foolishly.

1: I don't recall ever seeing many true track bikes with brakes.. or on the road for that matter.

2: Kind of annoys you enough to start a pointless thread to spout your opinion as though it were fact at us... now because you think it's a look thing, people should ride fakies and SS's to appease you?

3: Yes there is, it's called riding fixed gear.. you either like it or you don't and the main advantage for those riders is they like it.

Are you sure you're not from Berkeley? The attitude you're spewing out is throwing me off here... FYI since this seems to be a blanket statement thread,
I think people who ride actual track bikes on the roads are dumb****s, they were never designed to be ridden on the road.. they're meant for the track. Who would do that anyhow? Someone who only cares about style and not riding or the bike in reality?

Okay enough. This is going around in circles and people have answered. Thread closed.