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

I was always an utter wuss in the wet TBH, once slid down the road at 80+ on a GPZ900R after giving it too much rear brake in the wet too.

Me too. I'm the wet on a motorcycle it's just a case of getting home alive for me.

I'lld happily ride a SS with only a front brake, unless there was a huge mountain descent, or there was ice on the road.
The trick is, being able to use the front brake without going over the bars. Any good rider will be able to brake (front) and steer at the same time ( and stop more efficiently than if they only had a back)
Front brake FTW, it's not rocket science, just basic physics.

I'd like to see you 1 brake SSpeeders ride the Malvern hills!

Unless your all running discs you'd be eating hedge.

:-)

I think I all ready said that about descents.

This was my first front brake single speed. Apart from a trials bike all have been front brake jobies. Only one head over bars incident on loose gravel, but you bounce when you're young.
Seems like a bit of a null argument/thread. Ride your bike the way you want to ride it, and respect the fact that others will want to ride theirs in a different manner to yourself. As long as no-ones pissing off anyone else, there's no problems.

Forgot about the track ends!

When braking mega fucking hard, get your arse over the back of the bike. Helps for 2 reasons.

1. Less likely to endo/chuck yourself over the front.
   
2. You can get the rear wheel to help you stop. More weight on rear wheel, more normal force and thus more friction and ultimately quicker stopping. (especially with some who has such a large arse as me).
   
   

Two brakes on a SS, If the front or rear fail you can take it slow and still get home safe. Otherwise you are using your feet either in the wheels or on the road to burn off your speed.

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.

People should ride safe!
If you feel this is best achived with or without brakes, with or without helmet, hi-viz or rapha, personally I dont care. As long as while assembling a bike, while riding, and while kitting yourself out, personal safety and the safety others, is considered over asthetics.

I can only speak for my own style of riding but during the winter I use my rear brake almost exclusively, and in the summer the front. (inbetween I fall off a bit and then adjust). I tend not to use my brakes much (not a racer), but feel that I need the option to brake either wheel, in order to ride safely.

When I built my fixed, I planned out my gearing, and bought a 16t track cog and a 17t freewheel. As I got further into the build I decided that I did'nt really want to fit a rear brake (could'nt face drilling such a nice frame), and as such have never fitted the freewheel. I think maybe some people buy a track frame and come to the same conclusion as me, yet fit the freewheel regardless. This would be the wrong reason to ride monobrake.

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.

i agree that most of the time a single front brake is enough, but it's the other times that i worry about. like when a minicab pulls out suddenly and you have to react quickly, or a ped steps out, or if your brake cable slips or snaps. unexpected road events don't happen often, but they do happen and then i reckon it's better to have more options than a single caliper (but front is better than rear).

if you want only a front brake, ride fixed.

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.

I have a rear brake but I don’t use it like I said in my thread
I still have it on the bike encase I need it, but tbh the thought never comes into my mind
I can brake and steer perfectly well at the same time its all about brake control, if you hit the brake as hard as you can you are going to go flying, if you tap it so the pads just makes contact with the disk it will be all good. And anyhow people should be well aware of what is going on around them , you should be able to spot an accident before it happens, but there will always be something you will not be able to see. So just ride sensibly, but I like danger so that doesn’t apply to me.
And this may sound stupid but I have disc brakes and have them set up so I have to pull the lever right to the handle bar for the disk to nearly lock
That way I know I’m never going to go over the bars
If all else fails jam your foot against the rear tyre in the seat stays (if that makes sense)

BRAKES!

how many brake threads will it take for some people to notice they're not called "breaks"

GIMME A BRAKE!

IwasgoingtopostsomethoughsbutIspiltteaonmykeyboardandnowhalfthekeysdontworktrue.

Epic fail.

This thread and single-brake ss and brakeless cunts that can't ride brakeless and everyone else.

Rightonbrothermisanthropesunite

The one time that a rider is likely to discover a fault in the braking system (frayed cable, etc.) is when the brake(s) is / are needed most.
I had some twat turn right straight in front of me recently whilst on my geared bike at 20+. Braking was pure survival at that time and attempts were made to get both levers in firm contact with the bars (was on geared bike at time). That would have deffo revealed any faults in the cables. In the event of a failure there was no time for alternatives so forget about feet on wheels, etc. and think of head on steel / tarmac.
How I stayed on and upright I still don't know and the look on the driver's gf's face in the passenger seat was priceless :-)

I rode BMX for 12 years with a single back brake in the 80's and if anyone remembers how good those brakes were then it is like riding with 1/2 a brake, what with their ineffective one finger DX levers and levers with 90 degree bends placed half way down the bars and what not.

Never did me any harm, or at least I don't think it did as that part of my life is vague at best in my memory.

Why start a new thread on this bullshit when there was one less than 24hrs ago on the same subject which you where contributing to CrazyJames?

BRAKES!

how many brake threads will it take for some people to notice they're not called "breaks"

GIMME A BRAKE!

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Why start a new thread on this bullshit when there was one less than 24hrs ago on the same subject which you where contributing to CrazyJames?

I think its all really comical, so thought I would join in with the fun, i'm slowly regretting it now haha!

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.

So true.

When braking mega fucking hard, get your arse over the back of the bike. Helps for 2 reasons.

1. Less likely to endo/chuck yourself over the front.
   
2. You can get the rear wheel to help you stop. More weight on rear wheel, more normal force and thus more friction and ultimately quicker stopping. (especially with some who has such a large arse as me).
   
   

Two brakes on a SS, If the front or rear fail you can take it slow and still get home safe. Otherwise you are using your feet either in the wheels or on the road to burn off your speed.

Surely it's best to put your weight forward making sure you're within the limits so you don't fall over, if you're in the position where you're going to chuck yourself over the front then you're really not that good at handling your bike.

When I was getting in the habit of skip stopping I remember I was slowing coming up to a side road (just incase someone was to pull out) someone did pull out, and as I was lifting my rear wheel off the ground I instinctively pulled the front brake, meaning my rear wheel came much more of the ground than i'd intended, but I didn't go over the handlebars, I realised what i'd done and let go of the brake.

I don't think that means I have super reflexes, I think the majority of people who ride should be able to do that, it's a complete mystery to me how people can throw themselves over the bars by braking.

"You can get the rear wheel to help you stop. More weight on rear wheel, more normal force and thus more friction and ultimately quicker stopping."

I don't get this bit, if you're talking about friction in braking, then it's much easier to get more friction from the front, which is why a front brake only will stop quicker than a rear brake only.

As a lot have said already, use the rear for controlling speed, and the front for stopping.

But yes, always 2 brakes on an SS.

NO! Weight goes back so the bike doesn't endo when braking hard.

NO! Weight goes back so the bike doesn't endo when braking hard.

Random outburst lol....

A friend of a friend once touched his front brake lever while going at 3mph and it flung him across the road and into his neighbours front window.