Do you use your rear brake?

Yes!

i concur with those who have who wince at the very thought of riding fast downhill in the wet with a freewheel and no rear brake.

for the record (as i'm being somewhat forthright in this thread) i suppose i should add that i don't use a rear brake on my fixed gear. going front only on a freewheel would make me very very cautious and distinctly uncomfortable in a fair few situations i should imagine.

i should also admit that i used to have an old carlton road bike on which the brakes were so bad they might as well have not been there at all. that was terrifying. i rode it like that for weeks too. not quite sure what i was thinking at the time. in order to avoid being shot out into traffic at the bottom of southwark bridge you used to have to jam both levers against the bar and squeeeeze with your might right from the top of the bridge. in the wet you had to emply the weave and drag a foot technique too. so you can see i'm really in no position to lecture anyone.

i like to think i've learned a thing or two over the years though. hopefully i'm not as stupid as i once was and i know it's been said here a gazillion times but i think no rear brake on a s/s is fucking stupid. and it makes me grumpy when i see so many doing it.

Avoid faceplants? HTFU.

I rode brakeless bmx for years, had a brake on for like 3 days on my fixed, i've forgotten what brake levers feel like.
But fixed brakeless is just as good as having a rear brake only if you can control the bike adequately, plus rear brakes/braking is more useful in an emergency situation as you can change direction to avoid things far more safely/effectively while using a rear brake. For instance if there is a situation where you need to slow down/skid and change direction whilst travelling at speed you are better off with a rear braking bias as this enables you to skid/slow down and turn at the same time with less risk of the front wheel breaking traction unexpectedly, and potentially making the situation worse. In many situations reaching for the front brake in an emergency can be one of the worst things you can do, as heavy braking at the front can:

cause your rear to lose traction easier

cause your front wheel to lock which effectively loses you your steering!

cause you to perform a front wheel skid if you are on a low grip surface, e.g. a wet road!

All in all a front brake obviously has its uses but in an emergency 9 times out of 10 the rear brake is the safer/lower risk option IMO.

BMX. Yes, all the time, I'd miss it if I were brakeless
SS Mountain bike. Yes frequently, back to dull speed front to stop.
2xFixed. Yes it's the only braking mechanism on my bikes (Please bear in mind the drivetrain IS the back brake).

I have the brake mounted and set up correctly, I’m not stupid enough to not have it
but i have never had to use it luckily i have never had a serious accident
i can see what people are saying about emergency stops
i did have a bmx when i was about 10 and the brakes where shite
i had to chuck the back out and lean inwards and do a sort of speedway slide and go on the pavement to avoid hitting a car it scared the shite out of me and i didn’t go on my bike for about a week

To all, not just the o.p

In evolution a mutation occurs and if it is successful the new feature proliferates. If that item then is not used due to change of environment e.t.c in which the organism lives the feature does not disappear. Feature will only reduce and eventually disappear if it is a disadvantage in life / passing on of genes.

A rear brake is not a disadvantage. "I barely ever use it" is not a disadvantage. Therefor if you remove your rear brake and run single speed you are not evolving the bicycle according to any logical rules on performance. You are doing it purely for aesthetics. Admit it. If not self denial, false truths, and twisted logic is clearly your thing so fuck off and go join some cult in a desert.

You're a cunt Tommy. x

And my thinking is only twisted logic because I joined your cult.

A cult of cunts.

culnts

there are 295 topics on this forum that discuss brakes in some way. is that all that happens here?

no we drink a lot too, and fight...lots of fighting.

there are 295 topics on this forum that discuss brakes in some way. is that all that happens here?

Someone should put a brake on the proliferation of threads on brakes.

I'm not religious....but AMEN to that!

Someone should put a brake on the proliferation of threads on brakes.

I dunno; they're generally of a pretty high caliper.

I dunno; they're generally of a pretty high caliper.

They do seem to have a lot of leverage on this forum.

Rear brakes are for jessies.

I can do stoppies in the wet...no problem.

Drain covers and mid corner....and for them reasons alone I wouldn't ride a non-fixed bike for any duration without a rear brake.

And skids.

i ride with just a front brake on my SS becuase i dont have another lever and have never bothered to get one. never crashed and never had a problem in the wet ,and ive ridden the same bike everyday for 3, going on 4 years.

i know its probably not the best and theres always a first time, but to be honest i dont give a fuck, my bike works fine, is well maintained and i know how to ride it.

IMHO riding with just a front brake on an SS is no more silly than riding a brakeless fix.

I mainly ride a singlespeed bike due to knee problems, and on that bike I have two brakes. However I've got drop bars and only one crosstop lever, that being for the front brake. I generally ride mostly on the top of the drops so most of the time I only use the front brake, which is fine. But in poor conditions or if I think I'll need my back brake for any other reason, I'll switch to the drops so I have it available. Whenever I see a singlespeed without a rear brake I do tut to myself.

I did ride a bike without a back brake and with an increasingly ineffective front brake for a few weeks once. It was absolutely terrifying, especially in the wet!

edit: I also meant to mention that I've found on other bikes that I'm much more likely to use the back brake if the front brake isn't as good. If your front brake lacks stopping power you really need the back brake to make up for it.

A rear brake is not a disadvantage. "I barely ever use it" is not a disadvantage. Therefor if you remove your rear brake and run single speed you are not evolving the bicycle according to any logical rules on performance. You are doing it purely for aesthetics. Admit it. If not self denial, false truths, and twisted logic is clearly your thing so fuck off and go join some cult in a desert.

Marry me, Tommy?

i ride with just a front brake on my SS becuase i dont have another lever and have never bothered to get one. never crashed and never had a problem in the wet ,and ive ridden the same bike everyday for 3, going on 4 years.

i know its probably not the best and theres always a first time, but to be honest i dont give a fuck, my bike works fine, is well maintained and i know how to ride it.

IMHO riding with just a front brake on an SS is no more silly than riding a brakeless fix.

Oh haha, haha, ok, I would actually say the complete opposite, far safer to be on a brakeless fixed (if you are any good at stopping!) than on a ss with a front brake.
I know in an emergency at high speed, I can skid and divert round an object if need me, and scrub off lots of speed very quickly, and in fact stop pretty damn quickly, there is no way you can stop as quickly and as safely in all conditions with a front brake only, try emergency stopping on a wet road then get back to me about how stupid single speed and front brake only is!

the point of having two braking systems is that if one breaks you still have the other. so if your front break cable snaps on fixed you still have your legs and on ss or geared you should still have a back brake. it's not just about whether you can stop yourself efficiently with one brake, you should have another so you're not f*cked if one doesn't work.

This man is right. However it also can result in a face plant.

He is accurate in that you cannot stop faster by any other method aside from a full on collision with a unmoveable object.

To avoid face plant, use a back brake too.

Or, know your limitations

Oh haha, haha, ok, I would actually say the complete opposite, far safer to be on a brakeless fixed (if you are any good at stopping!) than on a ss with a front brake.
I know in an emergency at high speed, I can skid and divert round an object if need me, and scrub off lots of speed very quickly, and in fact stop pretty damn quickly, there is no way you can stop as quickly and as safely in all conditions with a front brake only, try emergency stopping on a wet road then get back to me about how stupid single speed and front brake only is!

Bollocks