One brake Single-Speed fools

I'm not sure about reducing the 'utility of my bike' - it goes when I pedal it, steers when I move the bars and stops when I apply the brake. Short of losing some fundamental parts of the bike (i.e. wheels/forks/braking mechanism) I'm not sure how else I could reduce it's utility?

I find it quite bizarre comment as well. You ride whatever you get on with.

you see, you get the look but your able to coast down hill and around corners i guess.

Still don't get the point of single speed

I've seen a few messengers riding single speed. I guess if you live in a pretty flat place (like London) the advantages are:

More efficient drivetrain - shorter chain, no derailleur/extra friction, optimal chainline for the gear you want to run.

Not much to go wrong and easy to repair. A bashed derailleur often results in a bent hanger, which means your frame is then a bit fooked.

slightly lighter due to lack of derailleur etc.

You have a flip-flop hub and one side is freewheel for when you're really tired, like Sheldon suggests (not really an advantage of single speed per se).

To the untrained eye it looks like you're running fixed and people will think you are super cool?! Or...

?

To the untrained eye it looks like you're running fixed and people will think you are super cool?! Or...

See, I always thought of SS as the poor relation of fixed - far less hardcore, and far less cool. But it has more recently occurred to me that SS riders are possibly even harder - after all, they've given up all the benefits of gears, and not gained any of the advantages of fixed. (I maintain that, riding fixed, my bike does half the work for me.)

Im not saying its a good idea, but was reading a bit of sheldon the other day and he writes that the back brake is pretty much redundant in terms of stopping force with a distance 2x that of the front brake. the front is at optimum stopping power when the back wheel is at the point of almost lifting off the ground with minimal traction. The back brake comes in to effect as a stopping force for times when it would induce a front wheel skid such as wet or icey conditions. mainly as you cant recover from front skids. so i suppose for the fair weather cyclist the only front brake option could be argued as sufficient. Also raises the no brake fixed question as most argue the front brake serves as use in the wet or times when rear wheel skid traction is low... im not ready to ditch mine, but its interesting that even in the dry you are accepting the fact that your brake distance is at least double from not riding a front brake.

Yup he does say that and it's completely true, 95% of the time on a normal road bike I would only use the front brake as it provides the most efficient method of stopping. However, if you are not riding fixed, you do really need a back brake. Front is fine and dandy on grippy surfaces, but if the front starts to slip you better ease up immediately and punch the back if you plan on stopping... if you have no back then you're in trouble...

foot brakes the back wheel yo.

I'm not sure about reducing the 'utility of my bike' - it goes when I pedal it, steers when I move the bars and stops when I apply the brake.Short of losing some fundamental parts of the bike (i.e. wheels/forks/braking mechanism) I'm not sure how else I could reduce it's utility?

Brake(s) ?

i started a thread about this a while ago and it was a big mistake

its a personal thing, people will ride how they want to ride,

Of course its a personal thing... but some people are dumb.

Front brakes rock. I cannot possibly understand why you wouldn't have one.

i started a thread about this a while ago and it was a big mistake

its a personal thing, people will ride how they want to ride,

preferably not in front of me in traffic

you do really need a back brake

who are you to tell people they need a back brake lol
people will set up there bike how they want

i think the Law gets involved at some point.
Blah, C+ I'm off to see a lookalike explain the 4th dimension, it might add some novelty to this thread.

preferably not in front of me in traffic

why not, dont you trust a fellow cyclist
ive said it before and ill say it a again i can stop with my front brake a steer to avoid you at the same time (i do have quite a powerful disk brake though)

why not, dont you trust a fellow cyclist
ive said it before and ill say it a again i can stop with my front brake a steer to avoid you at the same time (i do have quite a powerful disk brake though)

I can do the same with my no brakes, I can also bunnyhop fairly well on fixed which can come in handy for mounting curbs to avoid dodgy situations :)

But again like you said a_person, not everyone rides the same not everyone can do a rolling stoppie like yourself and still turn the bike, not everyone can bunnyhop curbs or skip stop/skid quickly in an emergency situation, everybody is different, and everybody has different skill levels, I know the only persons judgement I trust on the road is my own, I treat every other cyclist as a hazard and constantly have an "escape route" planned, should they pull a silly move.

Cracking for the pair of you, but the liability in the law is that I'm responsible if you brake sharply and I crash into you. CJ is an ugly fucker with a large arse, so can cope with the consequences, but from experience, your average unipack rider is flying over the bars and leaving a metal thing in my way on the floor.

err, and no a_person, I don't trust a fellow cyclist, in the same way that I think that most bus / WVM / cars have the potential to killz me in the beep of a text message that distracts them.

• i do love you james, but between friends, I could land on you from 50' and not be harmed. :p
  still ugly though.
  

im not that good at bunny hoping
so you beat me
(hanging my head in shame, no brakes and bunny hops out of they way)

who are you to tell people they need a back brake lol
people will set up there bike how they want

I said if you are not running fixed you need a back brake. Yes, people can set up their bikes (not there btw) as they want, but if you have a freewheel on the rear how do you plan on stopping if the front starts to slide?

As for "Who am I to tell people they need a back brake lol?"

I am nobody. You are perfectly entitled to run your SS with no brakes if it pleases you, but I shall 'lol' at the outcome. LOL.

it is down to skill
but ive probably learned the hard way
now im well aware of things going on around me so can probably avoid emergency stops
come to think of it snowy i dont really trust anything else on the road either, my bad

Cracking for the pair of you, but the liability in the law is that I'm responsible if you brake sharply and I crash into you. CJ is an ugly fucker with a large arse, so can cope with the consequences, but from experience, your average unipack rider is flying over the bars and leaving a metal thing in my way on the floor.

err, and no a_person, I don't trust a fellow cyclist, in the same way that I think that most bus / WVM / cars have the potential to killz me in the beep of a text message that distracts them.

• i do love you james, but between friends, I could land on you from 50' and not be harmed. :p
  still ugly though.
  
  

Think of me as a 5 star NCAP rated bike rider lol....

I find tree riding very useful in traffic as well
:p

Think of me as a 5 star NCAP rated bike rider lol....

Crash test dummy.

I said if you are not running fixed you need a back brake. Yes, people can set up their bikes (not there btw) as they want, but if you have a freewheel on the rear how do you plan on stopping if the front starts to slide?

As for "Who am I to tell people they need a back brake lol?"

I am nobody. You are perfectly entitled to run your SS with no brakes if it pleases you, but I shall 'lol' at the outcome. LOL.

im running ss and i never use a back brake
its there only because i would have to take the grip off to get to the lever then the disk, calliper and wiring
but the thought of using it doesnt come into my head so it might as well not be there
i didnt mean to sound like i was getting mouthy in the who are you q
its just a personal prefrence and i dont know why i got involved it this stupid debate again
sigh

Crazy test dummy.

fixed.