Single brake

Building up a single speed from a Trek donor bike (vertical drop outs) (see other threads) and want to know if a single front break unit is enough? Or would I be better with front and rear as it's not fixed?

if not fixed both brakes defo!!!

You can get away with front only, but in the wet and charging down hills you get more confidence with having a rear as well. It's about control, and having it.

i know someone who used to roll fixed with a front brake, didnt like it so went single speed and just kept the front brake - he does alright, but I think he's mad if you're single speed and only having one brake make it the back one

Yeah, thought that... Gonna have to source some tidy calipers then, kind of got used to the uber stopping power of disks on the MTB!!!

Nah, you brake far more on the front than you do on the rear. As a roadie I'd say 80% of my braking is front only. There are times when that other 20% really matter.

Fixed-gear;

[li]Perfect: Front brake and fixed-gear[/li]
[li]Good: Fixed-gear and brake-less[/li]
[li]Madness: Rear brake at any time[/li]

Single-speed;

[li]Perfect: Front and rear brakes[/li]
[li]Good: Front brake[/li]
[li]Passable: Rear brake[/li]
[li]Madness: No brakes[/li]

Same with MTB, but I always have used front over rear, screaming down mountain tracks and using back break first is asking for trouble! The inertia of the bike moving forward means the front break is better for stopping, but the rear and to the slowing process. Now - does anyone know if all the gear on Brick lane is hooky? Wondered if there might be some levers and calipers down there, seeing a few on ebay which look ok?

If you're going to run a singlespeed with one brake, you have to regularly check and change your brake cable.

Way back in the day, my front brake cable snapped on such a bike, on a hill trying to slow at speed and scared the bejesus out of me. Luckily, it was a long hill, the lights were in my favour and I somehow stopped using the foot between the back wheel and frame malarkey. Didn't learn though, broke a chain on a brakeless fixie later on in life - crashed that time.

So the moral here is that its always really nice to have a backup, even if you never use it. But if there is no back-up, learn to avoid failure through maintenance etc.

The logical answer surely ...is to just go fixed!

It's like any thing, you change the setup you have to alter the way which you ride to cope with that setup. As long as you ride apropeatly all should be fine. Yeah plus follow pips advice with the maintainace.

DK: Why is rear brake at any time on fixed "madness"? It may be "somewhat redundant" but it's hardly loopy.

i run a raleigh single speed commuted on it for a year or two with just the one break ( front )
no major incidents to report

Isn't it 'tricky' in the rain though dicki?

hippy DK: Why is rear brake at any time on fixed "madness"? It may be "somewhat redundant" but it's hardly loopy.

yeah on the Dunwhich towards the end I would have liked a rear brake. I think for long distance rides a rear brake would be nice on a fixed gear.

Gotta say I don't see the point in riding SS with only a front brake, unless you either are really skint or have'nt got round to fitting one yet...

Either way don't think I would ever do it.

hijacking the thread for a mo.....
I want to remove my rear brake but keep the lever (as I use the hoods), how do I keep the lever tight?
(I just know its gonna be dead obvious even as I ask)

There's a spring in it which should keep it permanently "out" after you remove the cable.

kipsy hijacking the thread for a mo.....
I want to remove my rear brake but keep the lever (as I use the hoods), how do I keep the lever tight?
(I just know its gonna be dead obvious even as I ask)

I think on some you can remove a pin to take the lever off, maybe tap it out with a punch, or you can get dummy levers usually used on tandems.

yeah, there is a pin. I'll carefully explore with my usual mallet and chisel approach to engineering tasks. cheers.

Cheers, front and rear it's gonna be. Pepelo - it has vert drop outs, hence SS! Wish I could go fixed, but for now, i only have the bit available!

i've had brake cables snap a few times on geared bikes - wouldn't ride a freewheel with only one brake if you paid me.

The point about needing front and rear brakes on ss is not about how effective a front or rear brake is, it's just that you need two means of braking.

you just have to plan your braking a block ahead !! dry the surfaces out and grind slowly to a halt it's almost like riding brakeless but not quite
maybe time to get rid of the raleigh or fix it

Sheldon Brown has got some interesting things to say about front brakes vs rear brakes for stopping, front it way better. Have a look on his site.

I think this rear brake to stop thing comes from BMX when you were worried about going over the bars. I only ever use my rear brake on my road bike to take some speed off on descents, and to add a bit more stopping power in the wet.

If you're single speed then fit front and rear brakes I reckon, you can take the rear one off if you go fixed. Saw a single speed the other day with only a front brake. I figured that the owner was trying to pretend it was fixed, we wasn't fooling me. I imagine it's fucking dangerous in the wet, going downhill...

almost as dangerous as a brakeless fixie