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

Once we have cooked it in its own shit, I will bring the vegetables.
ha ha! I'm so sad!

If you're only riding at about 15 mph, then it's unlikely that you'll ever be going fast enough to be unable to stop safely with just the front brake.

However, why not fit 2 and then feel safe in the knowledge that you can go faster?

One of my fixed wheel bikes is brakeless, with a relatively low gear, and i ride it considerably slower than my fixed wheel bike with a front brake.

And because of the difference in speed I haven't yet had a nasty crash brakeless, whereas I have done the afforementioned 'brake-hard-then-go-over-handlebars-and-hurt-oneself' routine a few times.

Despite (or maybe because of) this I wouldn't ride a free-wheel bike with one brake, just because I feel that brakes are more likely to fail than a chain getting thrown (on a bike with a straight chainline & tight chain).

If you like the visual aesthetic of the one brake, then why not give fixed a go, or even fit a coaster brake?

P!MP i gave up reading half way down first page

for 1, the law says u need 2 brakes, therefore you need 2 calipers of some description on your bikes with freewheels

2nd, i cant actualy remember the last time i touched my back brake on the road bike, and tend to only drag the back brake sometime on my ss when its a. wet or b. tighter than i thought

but please put 2 brakes on whatever ur reason is
i know u look after it and replace it etc, but what if u replaced it with a faulty one?
do u wear a helmet? it hurts at 15mph no matter what u say

Ahh but do they have the compliment of refectors required by the law?

EDIT: this was to Hacked2

None of the British Standard safety stuff is applicable to second hand bikes, so Hacked can keep his clean lines.

Pimps are people that coerce, get hooked on drugs, intimidate, imprison, rape, enslave and exploit women in order to prostitute them for their own financial gain.

easily. i meant fixed plus front brake, but the same applies to fixed plus NoBrakes. because you can use your legs to apply stopping force on the rear wheel. it's more effective to stop via a skid in a controlled fashion (by locking up the rear wheel with your legs) than it is to lock up the front wheel and thus go over the handlebars.

Bullshit, frontbreak supplies 75% stopping power, as any fool know.

Oi! Right we need to stop this now. Getting a bit too C+ Where's the sink button on this new forum....?

Since we can't block entire threads, I have decided to rate this one as terrible. one star.
That'll teach you bastards for discussing things that I already have a vague opinion on!
I rode ss with one brake for a short period of time - didn't like it.

Bullshit, frontbreak supplies 75% stopping power, as any fool know.

compared to back brake, sure. but i wasn't comparing it to a back brake was I?

besides, the problem isn't really the raw stopping power, it's the instability of stopping the front wheel, possibly while turning, and having momentum throw you over the bars. try riding a bike with disk brakes, slam on the front at 20mph while cornering and see what happens.

you can probably stop perfectly well under normal conditions, but it's the emergency unplanned stops that you've gotta worry about. if you want to ride with one handbrake, ride fixed. it's not rocket surgery.

Yeah, any fool know that!

Badtmy (sp?) and aidan both used 'it's not rocket surgery' recently. This is my favourite saying du jour.

big ups

compared to back brake, sure. but i wasn't comparing it to a back brake was I?

So you're saying braking by locking up your legs is more effective than using a back brake?

Really? How?

So you're saying braking by locking up your legs is more effective than using a back brake?

Really? How?

why don't you ask one of the dozens of forumengers who ride fixed brakeless whether they think locking up your legs in a skid is a more effective means of stopping than using a freewheel and just a back brake (which apparently only produces 25% of the stopping power anyway)? of course it is!

are we seriously having this conversation?

Badtmy (sp?) and aidan both used 'it's not rocket surgery' recently. This is my favourite saying du jour.

big ups

i'm glad you enjoyed it...

why don't you ask one of the dozens of forumengers who ride fixed brakeless whether they think locking up your legs in a skid is a more effective means of stopping than using a freewheel and just a back brake (which apparently only produces 25% of the stopping power anyway)? of course it is!

are we seriously having this conversation?

Locking back legs up - stops back wheel
Applying back brake - stops back wheel

I don't see the difference really. Provided you have a sharp well maintained back brake.

Oi! Right we need to stop this now. Getting a bit too C+ Where's the sink button on this new forum....?

It's at least a D- now.
:(

compared to back brake, sure. but i wasn't comparing it to a back brake was I?

easily. i meant fixed plus front brake, but the same applies to fixed plus NoBrakes. because you can use your legs to apply stopping force on the rear wheel.

why don't you ask one of the dozens of forumengers who ride fixed brakeless whether they think locking up your legs in a skid is a more effective means of stopping than using a freewheel and just a back brake (which apparently only produces 25% of the stopping power anyway)? of course it is!

are we seriously having this conversation?

Of course a mechanical brake is more effective than riding fixed brakeless. ss with a front brake is better at stopping quickly than fixed brakeless. I'm not condeming either, but if you don't mind brakeless then why have a go at ss front brake? if he goes over the bars than thats unfortunate, but unlikely to affect you at all. All this 'if you hit me then you will be sorry' responsibility bullshit...

How come when I rate this thread 1 star (terrible), the rating bumped from one star to two :os

Someone else rated it a 3?

Hovering over: 6 votes, 1.67 average.

everyone's free to vote...

I demand you all sell your bikes to Dogsballs for 5dorrah and shut up debating something that you'll never agree on.

Failing that, quit your jobs. Go get on your bikes and ride the damned things within your own acceptable limits.

fair play object

Murtle if I hear that you've actually used this as an excuse to quit your job I'll buy you a pint on Thursday ;]

However, if you take this as an excuse to sell your bike for 5dorrah then you'd better be calling me before you look dogs up!

Of course a mechanical brake is more effective than riding fixed brakeless. ss with a front brake is better at stopping quickly than fixed brakeless. I'm not condeming either, but if you don't mind brakeless then why have a go at ss front brake? if he goes over the bars than thats unfortunate, but unlikely to affect you at all. All this 'if you hit me then you will be sorry' responsibility bullshit...

we're just going to have to disagree on this. but this is just bullshit anyway without doing an actual test of stopping distance comparing the different braking mechanisms at different speeds - which i'm sure nobody here can be fucked with.

to get back to the original point of the thread, and to the numerous times i've already said this exact thing in this thread: i personally don't think fixed brakeless or SS + front brake is ideal - i think you need two means of braking. that's my opinion and i'm sticking to it.

i also don't think it's bullshit to expect road users to take adequate steps to look after the safety of other road users. call me crazy.

can we kill this thread now?

we're just going to have to disagree on this. but this is just bullshit anyway without doing an actual test of stopping distance comparing the different braking mechanisms at different speeds - which i'm sure nobody here can be fucked with.

to get back to the original point of the thread, and to the numerous times i've already said this exact thing in this thread: i personally don't think fixed brakeless or SS + front brake is ideal - i think you need two means of braking. that's my opinion and i'm sticking to it.

i also don't think it's bullshit to expect road users to take adequate steps to look after the safety of other road users. call me crazy.

can we kill this thread now?

I'm afraid I'm rather dogged. Why are we going to just have to disagree on this? it is completely nonsensical to argue that you can stop as fast on a brakeless fixie as you can on an ss with front brake. as i have said, front brake = 75% stopping power comp to back. This is because it is nearly impossible to skid a front tyre, and when skidding you're not braking terribly efficiantly. Sheldon says it so it must be true. I agree that 2 brakes good. but I don't think hes gonna hurt anyone else with his ss front brake, unless he flips over the bars onto them, which is i reckon less likely than someon braking suddenly and having someone running into the back of them.