The Ultimate Brakeless/Front/Rear/How many brakes? thread

ooh look! another break topic! i remember the fashion for no breaks in BMX. we laughed at everyones justification for that one too.

the problem is that people will argue so vehemently about the pluses of riding without breaks because they are trying to justify their fashion choice in a way that makes it look like a technical choice. now you may have rode x years without incident etc.. but the kid reading your posts that believes what you said and takes his breaks of and ends up under a bus is dead/maimed because of fashion. a shame, no?

you really need a break on each wheel, thats just how it is. any other choice is just fashion.

one of my mates' girlfriends just bought her first bike since she was a kid, and she went for a singlespeed. the first thing she did was take off the rear brake, because she'd seen that aesthetic and liked it. there is simply no way she has the bike handling skills to ride that set-up safely. i told my mate that unless he wants to see her go straight over the handlebars to either put her rear brake back on, or switch to fixed (she doesn't have any freewheeling habits, so might as well start riding fixed).

people follow the fashion without the knowledge or skills to understand what they're doing. not saying everyone riding SS/one-brake is an idiot, but a lot of them are less well informed than is safe.