riding brakeless in London

Riding like an idiot and/or brakeless still very much happens but publicly incriminating yourself over it is plain daft!

often see a brakeless rider down my road (one of the hills in crystal palace) think he might work for the local bike shop as have seen him with a shop jersey on, if he does work there i’m surprised they haven’t said something about riding brakeless or at least not wearing the shop jersey while being a free spirited brakeless hero of the tarmac...

bit like working at an MOT garage and driving a shitbox with no insurance/tax/mot?!

If you do mount only a front brake, I do recommend actually using it regularly, not only for emergencies, so that you are familiar with it and dont flip over your bike - might leave you worse off than if you had just slowed down as much as you could backpedalling/skidding.
If you don't care much for aesthetics and decide to mount a brake, you might as well just mount front and rear, most come in sets anyways.

Back in the day, I saw someone riding along Great Eastern Street on a brakeless single speed. Now that was cool.

Sadly, he was unable to oblige when I DASed him.

His tyres thanked him.

Back in the day, I saw someone riding along Great Eastern Street on a brakeless single speed. Now that was cool.

The things you've seen.

Sad to know that one day all these memories will be lost like buttock flesh in a pirhana feeding pool. Or a Chelsea fan in Liverpool.