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@VeloSniper
I think that it has to stop being cool to not have brakes. It's making safety a style issue. I get that purists don't want a brake on there bike because you shouldn't need it, and if you do your just a pussy. I have been riding fixed, and single speed for (yikes!) 35 years, and believe me just because you have a brake, or two doesn't mean you have to use them all the time, but they are sure nice to have when shit goes bad. I have crashed, skidded, and slid many a bike into vehicles, and busy intersections when I was young, and dumb enough to think I was indestructible. Getting squirrelly on a motorcycle on a busy freeway a couple of times will cure that. Or flying 30 feet and landing on my head. (Thank god I was wearing a helmet.) I was pissed off because California had just passed a helmet law. Thank god, I would have been dead otherwise.
Stop making people feel uncool for using brakes! Just change the culture. It's a stupid practice. Being a vegetable sucks.
I used to jump off the back of the bike and grab the seatpost in a dire emergency. My knees won't do that any more.