Strange Rear brake conversion on track frame, on a £1,300 quid bike good or bad?

I was looking at a white steel track bike in Hoxton, on Friday. The bike had some sort of metal block bolted onto the frame all owing a Rear break, with cable ties fixing the brake cable. The owner said the shop “14bikeco” said it was illegal for them to sell her the bike without it. She had also paid 1300 quid for the bike! I don’t know what my point is, it’s just seemed wrong on so many levels.

Sounds like the kind of thing people bodge together when they want to either a) ride single speed on a track bike (idiots) or b) trying to avoid local laws about riding without conventional breaks. With a front brake they are covered in English law on a fixed gear, as leg braking counts as one. However, if it is a pure track bike, without a drilled fork, fixing a weird rear brake may be the only way to legally let it out of the shop.
The person might just have not taken it off yet. I guess that sounds plausible, but without pictures/accurate information, it's hard to say.

okay what wrong with a single speed on track frame?

sound like a home made version of that;

bolt on rear brake is common enough for an undrilled frame, and there's nothing inherently dangerous about using cable ties to -gasp!- tie a cable.

sounds like you don't know what you're talking about. ho-hum :-/

On an actual track bike, with no brake drilling. It just seems a little pointless to me, considering the work it'd take or money it'd require. I'm not hating on single speeds per say.

I think Ashley said it was a rear brake, rather than a really bizarre clamp on front. How'd you recon you could slap together a clamp on front, that'd be fun!

a G-clamp on either fork? :)

More like this kind of thing?

Oh well Matty, you gotta get your knowledge somewhere, no?
How's about just duct taping one of these badboys to your fork, and learn to reach fucking quickly!

there you go;

nothing wrong with riding an undrilled track bike as a singlespeed with clamp on brakes *not in picture obviously(.

haha! surprised that hasn't surface on FGG already. definite face plant.

and you're right, everyone has to start somewhere. but it's a bit like saying "i saw a guy wiht a bike and it had no gears and it cost 1,300! and you couldn't even free wheel what a rip off!!"

ignore me, i'm in a bitchy mood :)

Even thought that hipster spend way too much on a bike for style and shit (sound like it got high end tubing, royce hubs, etc.), at least he's riding (I hope).

I guess I am wondering why bodge on a rear break, what’s the point “apart from the obvious “
The female owner did not seem to care weather the bike was track or road, she was more into the colour.
I totally understand bodging a break to an old track bike if you have to, but not a brand new track frame form a shop.

I guess I am wondering why bodge on a rear break, what’s the point “apart from the obvious “
The female owner did not seem to care weather the bike was track or road, she was more into the colour.
I totally understand bodging a break to an old track bike if you have to, but not a brand new track frame form a shop.

is she riding a bike?

It's not a bodge, you plum!

fixing a weird rear brake may be the only way to legally let it out of the shop.

Evans cycles let me ride away a Fuji Track with no brakes...

(BTW I rode straight to another [cheaper] shop to fit my front brake)

haha! surprised that hasn't surface on FGG already. definite face plant.

and you're right, everyone has to start somewhere. but it's a bit like saying "i saw a guy wiht a bike and it had no gears and it cost 1,300! and you couldn't even free wheel what a rip off!!"

That reminds me of a WICKED gumtree post of this guy flogging a bike cause "the bak wheel is like broke cuz you cant stop peddling so you need a nu 1 of dose", it was priceless.

@Treadders - I guess it's not illegal then, unless Evans are in for a lawsuit. The Bianchi Pista used to come with that classic "Warning: No Brakes" sticker so I guess it must be ok?

@Ashley - If it's a track bike, either old or new, you'd need to do something like that. No brake drilling no matter what the age, on the real deal track frame/forks.

@Mattty - I'd call it a bodge. It's using what you've got to make a working brake, rather than using something designed for it (i.e. a drilled rear bridge). I guess a clamp on front brake isn't a bodge, but unless they sell rear-clamp kits I stand by my choice of wording. I saw a rear one which was a proper bodge, two pieces of wood screwed together and drilled through for a brake to fit, that was sketchhhhh. No worries, I'm having a shitty day too, that's why I'm on here, dropping knowledge.

@Ed - Ride? What the fuck'd you want to do that for? It'd get your bike dirty. I'm in the "Single-speed with one brake is retarded, and more so if it's only a back brake" crew, despite riding brakeless myself. Hypocrisy! Wooo!

It's not against the law to sell a bike with no brakes.

It's against the law to sell a bike with no brakes and say it passes British standards

All you have to say to the customer is that it doesn't pass british standerds and don't ride it on the road.

@Mattty - I'd call it a bodge. It's using what you've got to make a working brake, rather than using something designed for it (i.e. a drilled rear bridge). I guess a clamp on front brake isn't a bodge, but unless they sell rear-clamp kits I stand by my choice of wording. I saw a rear one which was a proper bodge, two pieces of wood screwed together and drilled through for a brake to fit, that was sketchhhhh. No worries, I'm having a shitty day too, that's why I'm on here, dropping knowledge.

okay i'm sorry but it seems you are completely missing it
have another look

does this look like a product or not?

maybe check this: http://www.euroasiaimports.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=1264&idproduct=6568

it is a product specifically designed for this usage

if you remain certain that ''using what you've got' makes you're bike undeniably bodgy, then would you say that any fixed gear conversion (ie a road bike with sufficient length dropouts) is a bodge?

i don't want to sound like a prick but you don't seem to be getting the idea

/rant

exactly! it's just another way of securing a brake.

is she riding a bike?

or buying into a lifestyle trend?

I was looking at a white steel track bike in Hoxton, on Friday. The bike had some sort of metal block bolted onto the frame all owing a Rear break, with cable ties fixing the brake cable. The owner said the shop “14bikeco” said it was illegal for them to sell her the bike without it. She had also paid 1300 quid for the bike! I don’t know what my point is, it’s just seemed wrong on so many levels.

wrong on so many levels... right
so she paid £1300, so obviously going to have good components,
she had a keirin rear brake, which means that it wasn't a custom frame build, otherwise she could have specified for a rear brake bridge
cable ties fixing the rear brake cable to the frame - not exactly uncommon

I don’t know what my point is
, well neither do i really

sorry for the tone, but there you go

well thats a good point, the bike shop must be selling a lifestyle also to send her packing with 1300 quids worth of track frame, bodge and all.
And i still say its a bodge, why stick crap like that on a new frame? Why not just sell them a road frame with correct fittings. It’s a crime i say, a crime

ITS NOT a FUCKING BODGE!
it was designed to allow Keirin riders to train on the road.
those fuckers are professionals don't you know.

FUCK this thread is pissing me off.
learn your shit first then argue.

And its buyer beware, though if it was 14 I'd be surprised if the bike wasn't set up ideally for a london cruise, albeit without the brake holes, as to allow a bit of nice fashion.
I'd also be fine with seeing the following, which are done all the time:

1. A rape of a really nice old road frame
   
2. A gear hanger on a track bike
   
3. Vert drop fixed with no brakes (potential for chain jump higher)
   
4. Risers on an njs bike
   
5. Deep V wheels for anything other than the aero benefit
   
6. Aerospokes, disc wheels (not for polo).
   
   

If it gets the person riding, fuck it. I literally couldn't give less of a shit.
And again, those brakes are not a bodge, they're a really, really carefully designed product.

• if you ever take your bike to a track they are pretty fucking easy to remove.
  
  

and breathe

But, eyebrows.. it's a bodge.

;)*

*for the dopey fuckers

oh mai days

one of the things that defines a track/singlespeed frame is the drop-outs, which allow for room for adjustment as well as preventing the wheel from falling out the frame should the axle 'slip', which is a potential hazard with forward-facing road drop-outs, soooo...

Why not just sell them a road frame with correct fittings

well there's a contradiction there surely.

also, why do people put brakes on these velodrome bikes anyway? they are meant to be ridden on the track, duh....
so surely any track frame with a front brake is a bodge, just as much as this "crap"

since when are dia-compe brakes so crap? i think they're pretty alright

to be honest i think if the woman had any doubt as to the quality of the brakes and therefore her own safety she might have addressed this issue herself, or even bought a custom built frame including a rear brake bridge

haha eyebrows got there first

/thread