Pre 1950s rides of LFGSS: old bikes, vintage rats, classic lightweights

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clubman in reply to @Jiveman
It's really perfectly OK to have two brakes and fixed - I certainly wouldn't be happy with only a front brake.

Why?
1. Slowing down by pushing back on the pedals is extra and unnecessary effort
2. Any brake may fail - usually it's a broken cable, but just tonight I've come across a completely different failure.
3. The most difficult problem with fixed is descending - assuming your gear is low enough to climb, you will be spinning like mad going down. I don't think it's possible to slow down with your fixed at high revs, so that leaves you with one brake just when you may well need two!
I certainly don't think a single brake for a fixed wheel novice is a great idea.

Of course, if you only use the bike for flat TT courses or riding round the Heathrow perimeter road, one brake should be fine.

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caemis in reply to @clubman

Agreed. Two brakes - especially with skinnier tires - makes absolut sense for descending with a fixxed bike. And there is a difference between urban style fixed gear riding/racing and using some classic touring bikes while touring (load on the bike, maybe some rougher roads).

I realised a real difference when using my modern monstercross as fixxed bike, the traction of the wider tires is helping quite a lot when going down...

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