A worrying trend

Recently I have seen a lot of SS riders with fixed wheel style handlebars. That is to say, with a front brake only. There's one guy at college, and one girl too, and I was admiring what i assumed was a fixed wheel in covent garden when someone came along & unlocked it, revealing it to be a single-speed.

Now a bike is a bike, but it seems a lot of people are replicating the fixed wheel style of bike without actually having a fixed wheel - fixengers, if you will. Theres nowt wrong with that EXCEPT the fact that riding a single-speed with one brake is tantamount to riding a fixed wheel with no brakes. Obviously a lot of these people have probably been riding such bikes for a long time, but what worries me is new people coming into the world of SS riding and potentially getting themselves seriously injured. Any thoughts?

good point, could be even worse if someone saw a fixed without brakes, and then got an SS without any.
I spose its ok if they ride slower, but that is unlikely and they will have less control and a higher chance of going over handlebars, hmmm...
Only time will tell

it's not a worrying trend, it's just funny as fuck.
a bit like cars with posh alloys revealing a drum brake on the rear either painted silver to look like a disk brake or a fake disk with no calliper.

It's evolutions way.

I have seen one of these too, I thought it was fixed and then he started freewheeling, no Idea why anyone would do this.

That's bullshit. You can stop A LOT faster with a front brake/ss than you can with a fixed wheel/no brakes. The argument that you can go over the handlebars is only true if you don't 'know' your brakes, that is to say, you don't know how much force you can apply before you lift up. And even then, it'll only happen in emergencies

It's only dangerous because the brake cable might snap.

I think i might try and convince anyone riding like that to go fixed. Its obviously the look they're going for, and they'll be less of a danger to themselves and (possibly) others, at least once they're used to it.

lpg It's only dangerous because the brake cable might snap.

Or jam open or closed, or come loose... After all, riding a brakeless fixie is only dangerous cos the chain might get thrown. It's still dangerous. What worries me more is that a lot of these people certainly look as though (and one or 2 ride as though) they're new to the whole style of riding, making the lack of a back brake all the more worrying.

Dangerous in the wet with only a front brake.

fixengers.

my next bike is going to be ss brakeless, fixed gear is so last tuesday, holla @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH5W1Z23wPg

they will learn by pain

Whatever bike you're riding, you're still in more danger of having some kind of life-threatening accident at home, especially in the kitchen or bathroom. Why worry ?

(Insert witty rejoinder about riding bike in bathroom/kitchen here)

Unless they are skilled riders it is just an affectation and I wish broken teeth on them.
If someone who can't really control their bike is stupid enough to throw away the means of stopping perhaps a pavement-beating will make them see sense.
Same for brakeless.

That's mad crazy. SS brakeless?

Couriers - better up yo' game!

I dont see the problem with riding brakeless fixed,

MA3K Unless they are skilled riders it is just an affectation and I wish broken teeth on them.
If someone who can't really control their bike is stupid enough to throw away the means of stopping perhaps a pavement-beating will make them see sense.
Same for brakeless.

they'll all be in A&E when the black ice arrives this winter

The caveat is in the BOLD text.

I don't have a problem brakless either, check my profile.

I missed the bold, I havent got my glasses on ;-)

Is that guy sponsored by Vans? He'd want to be with all the shoes he'd go through.

what gets me about that brakeless ss rider is that the's riding a bianchi pista. Which means he bought a perfectly servicable fixed wheel bike then fitted a freewheel to it. Why?

maybe they live in a really hilly area

lpg maybe they live in a really hilly area

lol

Oh, it all makes perfect sense now. Hey i think i'm just going to jump down the stairs tomorow, much more practical than walking down them